Achieving and maintaining a state of ketosis has been a cornerstone in the success of the weight loss program developed by Dr. Stanley K. Bernstein, MD. His methods utilize a low-calorie, low-fat diet to promote the loss of stored fat while preserving lean tissues, which helps to avoid the negative side effects often associated with other poor weight loss diets.
The article cited here, and published in the journal Medscape, describes many of the benefits associated with the low-calorie ketogenic diet that Dr. Bernstein has been promoting for decades. In addition, his methods incorporate healthy doses of vitamin and mineral supplements, along with medical supervision of co-morbid diseases, and personal counseling and support.
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Here are some of the highlights of the article:
MADRID, Spain — According to the latest evidence, presented during the 8th International Scientific Symposium New Frontiers in Scientific Research, the ketogenic diet is emerging as an effective strategy not only to promote weight loss, but also to manage many comorbidities associated with obesity, including COVID-19.
Ana Belén Crujeiras, BSc, PhD, principal investigator, commented, “Nutritional ketosis has gained great interest in recent years because it is shown to have beneficial properties for health and promotes healthy aging, increasing longevity. Furthermore, in the case of obesity, we have more and more evidence that it is an effective treatment, mainly because to achieve this metabolic state (ketosis), routes that require the combustion of fats are activated, and this induces body weight loss.”
“In this sense, a very interesting result is that despite the strong weight loss it induces, it preserves muscle mass and function and improves resting metabolic rate. These two variables are important, because all [other] therapeutic strategies that exist to lose weight lead to a significant reduction in [lean tissue] mass and also a reduction in energy expenditure at rest [which] is associated with the risk of regaining lost weight…”.
“This guideline is [also] accompanied by a reduction of anxiety about food and an improvement in psychobiological parameters, thus increasing the quality of life of these patients.”
“We were also able to verify that the increase in ketone bodies has immunomodulatory properties, which is associated with increased immune function in these patients,…” added Crujeiras.
Luca Busetto, MD, co-chair of the Obesity Management Task Force (OMTF) of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO), emphasized that this diet always be prescribed by a doctor after an appropriate assessment of the patient.
The results strongly suggest that rapid initial weight loss increases the chance of the result being maintained in the long term. This clashes with the traditional recommendation of losing weight little by little as a strategy to achieve long-term results, but it must be taken into account that there are many myths in the treatment of obesity that current evidence is dismantling with new data — and this is one of them. Several investigations demonstrate the effectiveness of this diet in this regard, especially in the case of type 2 diabetes.
“The final conclusions of the study corroborate that the very-low-calorie ketogenic diet can be recommended as an effective and safe tool for people with obesity, especially those with severe obesity or comorbidities (joint disease, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases) who need immediate, substantial weight loss. In addition, it can be prescribed to [other] patients with obesity … and under medical follow-up,” said Busetto.