Nutritional Ketosis:
Review Article for Diabetes Journal 5/21/2017

What does that mean and how can it revolutionize human health and wellness? 

Nutritional Ketosis has been studied since 1925. When the first case study to implement a ketogenic diet was developed and designed by Dr. Russell Wilder, to explore the hypothesis that nutritional ketosis would benefit children challenged by uncontrolled 24/7 epileptic seizures.  The results were indeed astonishingly successful. (1)

There is a plethora of peer-reviewed articles spanning decades now, which continues to explode, validating the use of ketogenic diets to improve and revolutionize the current health of humanity. (2-12)

80% of us are faced with the challenges of modern city life. Having a body that has yet to evolve fully or adequately adapt to daily; pollution, stress, altered/processed overabundant food sources, and a push for dependence on "this for that", so called instant cures. In countries that predominantly adhere to allopathic medicine, their current model of "health care" poses these premises as the ONLY choice.

Why have these findings been in the foreground of mass exposure and application in the alternative medicine realm?

Because the application of ketogenic diets is not an easy achievable task to counsel potential patients on, as it takes a herculean effort to adapt into, especially when there is health, lifestyle, degenerative progression, and the stress of modern life to contend with, at the same time a person is implementing a new, rigorous, and seemingly counter-intuitive lifestyle change. Which requires utmost focus and self-responsibility.

The benefits of ketogenic diets are profound and are palliative to the most significant pandemic causes of degenerative diseases today:

1. Anti-inflammatory properties (6) 

2. Protects the Pancreas by sparing the use of Insulin, preventing Diabetes, Hypoglycemia and Metabolic Syndrome (3) (8) 

3. Are neuro-protective and neurotrophic, preventing brain and nervous system degeneration (2) (7) (9) (10) 

4. Promotes increased oxygenation, which is protective to all cellular tissues (4) 

5. Improves ATP production at the mitochondrial level (4) (12) 

6. Aids in the Repair of DNA by preventing cancer (6) (4) (12)

7. Slows aging by promoting elongations of telomeres 

8. Increases Glutathione production vital for Liver, Brain and Gut protection (12) 

9. Cardio-protective by increasing HDL, reducing LDL, VLDL (11)

Once the brain and body receive the message to be in ketosis to provide cellular energy, the process of adaptation can then be undertaken one individual at a time, for a lifetime.

The keto-adaptive process takes 15 days to set in motion. This is the amount of time it takes the brain and body to switch from being a glucose=> fat storage receptacle to an efficient eat fat =>> burn fat machine.

Stages of Nutritional Ketosis are achieved by:

1. Achieving blood level of ketones of 1.5-3.0 (blood ketone meter)

2. Establishing one's individual ketogenic ratios of macronutrients to maintain progress. 

a. Carbohydrates 10-15%

b. Protein 20-30%

c. Fats 65-95%

3. Maintain the first stage of nutritional ketosis and then modify as needed

a. The bigger the health challenges the higher the fat ratio needed to achieve optimal health

b. Individually tailored and self-monitored 

In my opinion, this is now the most viable treatment protocol to prescribe for patients, to make the biggest impact on the quality of their life for optimal health and wellness, on this planet today. I intend on continuing to live a Keto-Adaptive lifestyle and focus on coaching, counseling, and guiding those I serve toward their health goals.

I believe that this lifestyle is the foundation for delivering a journey for optimal human performance instead of the current pandemics extant on this planet today, which looms larger daily.

I invite my colleagues to perform due diligence on this subject and change old paradigms that no longer deliver health but rather an outdated "sick care" "this for that model".

References:

(1) http://www.charliefoundation.org/explore-ketogenic-diet/explore-1/introducing-the-diet

(2) Epilepsy Res. 2015 Oct;116:53-8. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2015.06.015. Epub 2015 Jul 9. The ketogenic diet in infants--Advantages of early use. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26354167

(3) Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2015 Sep 24;10(1):120.doi:10.1186/s13023-015-0342-6. Ketogenic diet in a patient with congenital hyperinsulinism: a novel approach to prevent brain damage. Maiorana A1, Manganozzi L2, Barbetti F3, Bernabei S4, Gallo G5, Cusmai R6, Caviglia S7, Dionisi-Vici C8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26354167

(4) Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2015 Jun;63:55-9. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2015.01.022. Epub 2015 Feb 7. Mitochondria: The ketogenic diet--A metabolism-based therapy. Vidali S1, Aminzadeh S1, Lambert B2, Rutherford T2, Sperl W3, Kofler B4, Feichtinger RG1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25666556

(5) Cancer Res. 2014 Dec 1;74(23):6991-7002. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-0385. Epub 2014 Oct 10. Long-chain fatty acid analogues suppress breast tumorigenesis and progression. Gluschnaider U1, Hertz R1, Ohayon S1, Smeir E1, Smets M1, Pikarsky E2, Bar-Tana J3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25304261

(6) Nat Med. 2015 Mar;21(3):263-9. doi: 10.1038/nm.3804. Epub 2015 Feb 16. The ketone metabolite β-hydroxybutyrate blocks NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated inflammatory disease. Youm YH1, Nguyen KY1, Grant RW2, Goldberg EL1, Bodogai M3, Kim D4, D'Agostino D5, Planavsky N6, Lupfer C7, Kanneganti TD7, Kang S8, Horvath TL1,Fahmy TM4, Crawford PA9, Biragyn A3, Alnemri E8, Dixit VD10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25686106

(7) Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:474296.doi:10.1155/2014/474296.Epub 2014 Jul 3. Ketogenic diet in neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases. Paoli A1, Bianco A2, Damiani E1, Bosco G1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25101284

(8) Can J Diabetes. 2014 Aug;38(4):223-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jcjd.2014.05.002. Epub 2014 Jul 9. The ketogenic diet for the treatment of myoclonic astatic epilepsy in a child with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Aylward NM1, Shah N2, Sellers EA3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25022865

(9) BMC Neurosci. 2006 Apr 3;7:29. A ketogenic diet as a potential novel therapeutic intervention in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Zhao Z1, Lange DJ, Voustianiouk A, MacGrogan D, Ho L, Suh J, Humala N, Thiyagarajan M, Wang J, Pasinetti GM. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16584562

(10) J Lipid Res. 2014 Dec;55(12):2450-7. doi: 10.1194/jlr.R046706. Epub 2014 Apr 10. The collective therapeutic potential of cerebral ketone metabolism in traumatic brain injury. Prins ML1, Matsumoto JH2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24721741

(11) Mol Cell Biochem. 2006 Jun;286(1-2):1-9. Epub 2006 Apr 21. Long term effects of ketogenic diet in obese subjects with high cholesterol level. Dashti HM1, Al-Zaid NS, Mathew TC, Al-Mousawi M, Talib H, Asfar SK, Behbahani AI. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16652223

(12) J Neurochem. 2008 Aug;106(3):1044-51. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2008.05460.x. Epub 2008 May 5. The ketogenic diet increases mitochondrial glutathione levels. Jarrett SG1, Milder JB, Liang LP, Patel M. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18466343