If you switch to a carbohydrate -reduced diet, you can develop extreme cholesterol levels – but what does that mean for your heart? A new study provides answers.
A lot of fat and protein, but hardly any carbohydrates: this so -called ketogenic diet is enjoying growing popularity. Because it should not only help with losing weight, but also support, among other things, in epilepsy or diabetes. But a problem makes you look at: for some people, the “bad” cholesterol-the so-called LDL cholesterol-shoots up. So far, it was unclear whether this automatically leads to more deposits in the coronary arteries. But it was believed that the general risk of cardiovascular diseases increases.
A new US study now provides data for the first time that indicated that despite extremely high cholesterol, no measurable damage to the coronary arteries occurred after one year-at least in a certain population group. The study was published in the specialist journal “Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Advances”.
The researchers pursued 100 people over a year who had developed extremely high LDL values due to a strict ketogenic diet-sometimes well over 300 mg/dl. The special thing: All participants were healthy, slim and had no metabolic problems.
In order to check whether new deposits (so-called plaques) had formed due to the high blood values in the coronary arteries, the researchers relied on high-resolution computer tomography with AI-based evaluation.
The result: Neither the increase in cholesterol nor the duration of the ketogenic diet influenced the amount of new deposits in the heartbeat. Rather, it was crucial how much plaque was already available at the beginning of the examination.
In other words, if you already had deposits, you got more – even if all other blood values were inconspicuous. Anyone who started with clean vessels remained largely stable. And despite cholesterol levels that would be considered alarming in other population groups.
The study makes it clear: A high LDL value alone is not automatically dangerous-the entire condition of the body is decisive. In addition, the results suggest that there are individual vulnerabilities that weigh more than the cholesterol itself.
Even if the current study shows that high LDL values in healthy keto supporters do not automatically lead to more deposits, this does not apply to everyone. People with classic risk factors – such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, family preload or an unhealthy lifestyle – still have a significantly increased risk of deposits (arteriosclerosis). High LDL levels can be dangerous for them because the vessel walls are often already pre-damaged. Older people or smokers are also part of the risk group, in which increased cholesterol values should be observed particularly carefully and, if necessary, treated.
