- Thank you for visiting this video segment for Dr. AFib.
I'm Dr. Morales, and in today's video segment we're going
to be talking about the Keto diet,
and how anybody with atrial fibrillation,
what you should be aware about with the keto diet.
The keto diet is an extremely popular
and controversial diet right now,
and it was actually one of the top
Google search terms of 2018, so there are many,
many people interested in the keto diet.
I've had several patients of mine ask me
about the keto diet and whether
they think it's safe for them or good
for them to use for their atrial fibrillation.
Now, I've talked about, in the past,
that weight loss can be very effective
for improving symptoms of atrial fibrillation.
There have been several studies in the past
that have talked about 10% weight loss
of a patient's initial body weight
can result in over 40% improvement
in a person's A-fib symptoms.
But what about what diet, you know?
People want to know what diet is good for them
and whether the keto diet specifically
is an okay diet to use.
So for those of you who are not aware,
what is the keto diet, what does it do?
So the keto diet is a very popular diet right now.
And what's it a very, very low carb diet.
It's such a low carb diet that it induces
what's called a state of ketosis.
That means that it induces your body
to use an alternative fuel source other than sugar,
which are ketones and breaking down fat molecules.
It's a very rapid weight loss.
It's been very popular, and you've probably seen celebrities
and other people online who have used the keto diet
and have pretty rapidly lost weight.
It seems to be pretty effective as a weight loss regimen.
But is it safe, medically speaking,
for people who have heart conditions,
or specifically, atrial fibrillation?
There are unfortunately some case reports
out there that have demonstrated that the ketosis,
the state of the diet where you have more ketones
in your blood, can actually trigger episodes or lead
to more episodes of atrial fibrillation.
It's just a very few small case reports.
There's not a whole lot of literature out there.
However, it does make a little bit of sense
that the keto diet could in essence affect or contribute
to getting more episodes of atrial fibrillation.
And how can it possibly do that?
Well, the whole state of ketosis
or having ketones in your body does actually affect your pH,
sort of that acid base balance that we have
in our blood and our body, and there's a lot
of literature out there, a lot of website articles out there
about acidic keto diet and alkaline keto diet.
These are all things related to the pH
inside of a person's body, and affecting your pH
in your body can certainly have an effect
on triggering episodes of atrial fibrillation.
The heart is very sensitive to changes in the pH.
It can lead to short circuits and extra beats,
which can end up triggering episodes of atrial fibrillation.
In addition, the state of ketosis
can also affect your electrolyte imbalances.
Many of you are aware about potassium
and magnesium deficiencies, which can also contribute
to episodes of atrial fibrillation.
So it does, in a sense, make sense
that doing the keto diet can affect,
or can potentially trigger episodes of atrial fibrillation.
It makes sense medically.
And so that's sort of the main reason
why I do not typically recommend
my patients to have the keto diet.
I've just seen a couple of case reports
that show that it may not be beneficial
for patients who have atrial fibrillation.
Now, the literature, the websites, the literature
looks that it's very good as a weight loss strategy,
but however, for patients with atrial fibrillation
it may not be the right strategy.
It may be a good short term plan for some patients,
but as a long term strategy for weight loss
and weight management, it may not be the right strategy
for patients with atrial fibrillation.
When it comes to atrial fibrillation
as well as patients with heart disease,
for many years now there's been a lot of good data
and articles supporting the use of the Mediterranean diet
for atrial fibrillation as well
as for patients with heart disease
as more of a safer alternative,
which I'll discuss more in a later video segment.
But at this point I want to discuss specifically
the ketone diet and why I do not typically recommend it
to my patients with atrial fibrillation.
But always discuss diet plans
with your doctor for further information.
Thank you for visiting this video segment for Dr. AFib.
I'll see you next time.