Mouse study links certain keto diets to inflammation — ScienceAlert

An experiment in mice showed that the composition of fats in a ketogenic diet may affect inflammatory processes in the body. A diet with a higher proportion of long-chain saturated fatty acids was linked to mitochondrial stress and the accumulation of pro-inflammatory macrophages in several organs, ScienceAlert reports , citing a study in the journal Science Advances.

Two versions of a keto diet were compared For 21 days, researchers fed mice one of two ketogenic diets or regular feed for comparison. One keto diet contained Crisco, a palm oil-based cooking fat in which about 26% consisted of long-chain saturated fatty acids. The other was based on coconut oil and had a similar fat content, but only 12% long-chain saturated fatty acids.

In mice fed the Crisco diet, researchers found significantly more pro-inflammatory macrophages in the heart, kidneys, liver, brain, and white adipose tissue. In contrast, inflammatory marker levels in animals on the coconut oil keto diet were closer to those of the group on a regular diet.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram . The results so far apply only to animals The authors suggest that the pro-inflammatory effect of long-chain saturated fatty acids may arise after a certain threshold of their intake is reached. According to their data, the inflammatory consequences of a keto diet may be related not to ketone metabolism itself, but to the composition of the diet, fatty acid availability, and the responses of individual cell types.

Scientists are also studying whether ketogenic diets can be adapted to influence the tumor microenvironment and potentially improve cancer immunotherapy outcomes. At the same time, the available data have been obtained mainly in animal experiments. A 2021 systematic review found no evidence that a ketogenic diet affects antitumor efficacy or overall survival in patients with cancer.

To further investigate this issue, a clinical trial has been launched at the University of Texas Health Science Center, which is also planned to open at the University of Cincinnati.