A new study has been published that might change the way we look at increases in cholesterol levels for lean people when they go on a ketogenic diet.
We have known about a specific class of people that have a unique response to a ketogenic diet. These Lean Mass Hyper Responders are people who are already lean when starting a keto diet and typically when they add the extra fat to their diet, it results in increased cholesterol on their blood tests. (As opposed to when fat people like me start keto and their cholesterol levels drop dramatically.)
New Study Changes Understanding of Ketogenic Diet on Heart Disease
It was thought that for this subset of people, a ketogenic diet might not be beneficial because it is just assumed that higher cholesterol levels means increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.
This new study has the potential to put Lean Mass Hyper Responders (LMHR) at ease when they get their blood results back from the doctor.
LMHR people were followed for one year on a ketogenic diet and instead of just tracking cholesterol levels, they used coronary artery calcium and coronary computed tomography angiography to look at plaque progression in the arteries.
What they found was changes in LDL-C and ApoB cholesterol levels were not associated with changes to levels of plaque build up in artery walls.
In fact, the only thing associated in plaque progression was previous plaque build up. So it’s not cholesterol driving plaque build up in these people, it’s the presence of plaque that was already there before starting the diet.
So what does this mean? Even if you are in the small minority of people who see an increase in cholesterol levels when starting a ketogenic diet, you are at no increased risk of a cardiovascular event from the change in your diet so go ahead and add that pat of butter to your steak!
