Ketogenic diet: does it work?

This diet involves eating a maximum of high-fat foods and limiting sugar to a minimum. It has found its place alongside other weight loss diets, but is it effective for weight loss?

The composition of the ketogenic diet is about 5% carbohydrates, 15% proteins, and 80% lipids, so it is rich in cream, butter, various oils, fatty fish, etc. The goal is to mobilize the ingested fats as quickly as possible, in order to suppress the appetite and limit caloric intake. Moreover, as the body needs carbohydrates and cannot find them directly in the diet, it will mobilize the stored fats and transform them into ketogenic bodies.

The main question is obviously that of its long-term effectiveness. The difficulty with the ketogenic diet is that it is necessary to limit starchy foods and fruits, or any other food containing carbohydrates in quantity. However, the elements containing carbohydrates are often those associated with gustatory pleasure... Not to mention the social constraint induced because everything must constantly be weighed. Even if it is efficient in the sense that the number of calories ingested is lower than the number of calories spent, it can be complicated to follow in the long term. As with other diets, it is the interruption of the diet that will cause weight regain.

Did you know? Although mainly known as a weight loss diet, the ketogenic diet has been used since the 1920s as a treatment for epilepsy. Since the discovery of anti-epileptic drugs, the use of this diet has drastically decreased, but it is still used today for patients suffering from drug-resistant epilepsy for example.