11 Health Benefits of Low-Carb and Ketogenic Diets

Eleven health benefits of low-carb and ketogenic diets include:

1. Prevention or management of type II diabetes:
   • Studies report an increased risk of type II diabetes with diets rich in carbs, particularly refined carbs. 
   • Maintaining stable blood glucose levels is critical for preventing diabetic complications. Therefore, limiting the consumption of carbohydrate-containing foods will minimize the quantity of glucose entering the bloodstream. 
   • This explains why this diet has traditionally been used in the prevention and treatment of type II diabetes.
   • Recent research suggests that following a low-carb diet consistently results in improved blood glucose management and weight loss. It also suggests that the low-carb diet has a high adherence rate after 12 months, implying that it is a long-term sustainable diet.
2. Help lose weight while reducing your hunger:
   • As a ketogenic diet emphasizes fats over carbohydrates, it suppresses your appetite, which means you won't be hungry as frequently. This indirectly aids in quick weight loss. 
   • People who follow a low-carb diet tend to lose weight faster than those who follow a low-fat diet.
   • Carbohydrates increase the production of insulin, the body's primary fat-storing hormone. By lowering the quantity of insulin in your bloodstream, your body will be prompted to burn its existing fat reserves rather than create new ones.
   • Low-carb and keto diets are heavy in fats and proteins, which have been reported in studies to lower appetite and reduce calorie intake. 
   • Many studies have suggested that low-carb diets cause fast weight reduction in the first 6 to 12 months. Weight reduction is not just due to water loss but also due to fat loss. In terms of long-term diet maintenance, research suggests that a low-carb diet is the most efficient approach to losing weight and keeping it off.
3. Reduce triglyceride levels:
   • Low-carb and keto diets help reduce a variety of risk factors for heart diseases. They have an important role in lowering the levels of triglyceride in the blood, which is a well-known and significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. 
   • Triglycerides are a form of lipid (fat) present in the bloodstream. When you eat, your body converts any extra calories into triglycerides, which are then stored in your fat cells to be used as energy between meals. 
   • Eating more calories than you can burn, especially from high-carbohydrate meals, causes triglyceride buildup and increases your risk of heart disease.
4. Increase good cholesterol levels:
   • It is well known that low-carb diets boost high-density lipoprotein, a type of cholesterol. Before you assume that cholesterol is harmful, consider that this is healthy cholesterol that should be present in your body because it lowers your risk of heart disease and stroke. 
   • To maintain high levels of this healthy cholesterol, it is necessary to consume a low-carbohydrate and good-fat-rich diet.
5. Improve cognitive performance:
   • Consuming a lot of carbs implies loading your body with sugars, which it will then consider as the first option when attempting to convert anything to utilize as energy. This causes the classic sugar crash.
   • As your sugar levels aren't stable, your brain has difficulties managing what it needs to be focused and awake. 
   • Some studies report that a low-carb diet may even be beneficial in preventing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in youngsters because lower sugar consumption helps control the body’s energy levels and boosts the brain's capacity to focus.
6. Better digestion:
   • Most individuals are unaware that sugars consumed in a high-carb diet can provide nourishment to the "bad bacteria" flourishing in the stomach. As a result, you may be more prone to irritable bowel syndrome, increased stomach cramps, and excessive gas. 
   • Adopting a low-carb or keto diet means your stomach will be digesting a lot of fresh vegetables, healthy fats, and high-quality proteins that will improve your gut flora and support digestive health.
7. Reduce inflammation:
   • Inflammation is the body's normal immunological reaction to infection and healing. However, chronic inflammation can create unpleasant symptoms, such as pain, joint stiffness, edema, exhaustion, and more severe physiological effects.
   • When you follow a low-carb or keto diet, you go into a state of ketosis regularly; your body creates ketones, which are powerful anti-inflammatory chemicals. This helps block inflammatory pathways, subsequently lowering inflammation symptoms.
   • Moreover, by blocking certain enzymes, ketones have been demonstrated to have effects similar to those of pain-relief medicines, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. 
   • Moreover, the keto diet encourages incorporating anti-inflammatory foods, such as eggs, olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, and other omega-3-rich foods, into one’s daily routine. 
8. May help fight cancer cells:
   • According to studies, diets high in refined carbs and sugars fuel cancer cells and contribute to free radical damage. Free radicals destroy your healthy cells' proteins, DNA, and cell membranes by stealing their electrons during the oxidation process. 
   • Although free radicals occur naturally in the body and their levels increase with age, some studies have suggested that high-carbohydrate diets can speed up the generation of toxins and hence exacerbate the harm they cause.
   • When you transition to a low-carb or keto diet, your body's healthy cells can use fats as energy; however, cancer cells cannot.
9. Steady energy levels:
   • A high-carb diet causes blood sugar levels to fluctuate. When your blood sugar varies, so does your energy. 
   • However, if you aim toward a low-carb diet that minimizes your carbohydrates, you will begin to bring your blood sugar and energy levels to a more predictable baseline. 
   • The first few days of a low-carb lifestyle will bring on what specialists term "low-carb flu" waves of sluggishness while your body adjusts. 
   • However, you will automatically adjust thereafter and will have better control over your energy levels.
10. Proven nutrition intervention for epilepsy:
    • Ketogenic diets are considered an effective nutritional treatment option for epilepsy. Surprisingly, this diet has been around for almost a century, with origins dating back to the 1920s. At the time, ketogenic and low-carb diets were being investigated as dietary therapies for epilepsy in children.
    • Systematic evaluations on the efficacy of ketogenic and low-carb diets for epilepsy are also favorable. According to trials, this diet delivers a 90 percent reduction in seizure incidence after six months of therapy. 
    • However, the levels of carbohydrate restriction necessary for ketogenic meals necessitate close supervision for young children because of the potential initial adverse effects. Anyone contemplating nutritional treatment for epilepsy should always consult their doctor first.
11. Good for skin health:
    • A low-carb diet may be beneficial to your skin. If you reduce your carbohydrate intake, you will have more place in your diet for good fats, which are beneficial to your skin.
    • Low-carb diets, according to the experts, include beneficial fats, such as omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, in the diet, which can enhance blood flow to the skin, resulting in clearer and better skin.
    • You will also eat less refined sugar, which is typically found in carbohydrate-heavy meals that induce inflammation that has been shown in studies to promote skin aging.
    • When you cut down on sugars and include healthy fats with good proteins along with your usual skincare routine, you should have healthy skin within a few months.