Ketogenic Diets Linked to Sudden Death!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One person in 1000 people experience sudden cardiac death every year, and the risk increases during or shortly after exercise. Congenital defects (present at birth), such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart) and abnormal arteries, account for most sudden deaths occurring in people under 35 years of age. Coronary artery disease is the most common cause in older people. Factors altering the normal chemical environment of the heart, such as severe dehydration and cocaine abuse, can trigger fatal heart rhythms. In a new report, researchers from the prestigious McGill University Health Center reported two cases of sudden death associated with low carbohydrate ketogenic diets. Both died from abnormal heart rhythms. The body produces ketones from fats during periods of low carbohydrate availability. While these diets promote weight loss, they are also associated with selenium depletion and an abnormal heart rhythm (prolonged QTc interval) that increase the risk of sudden death. Anyone on a ketogenic diet should take a 200mcg selenium supplement daily. Do not take more than this amount because selenium can lower IGF-1 and may also cause glucose intolerance. I would also recommend magnesium and the amino acid taurine which have been shown to prevent abnormal heart rhythms. I am also concerned with competitive bodybuilders on ketogenic diets that are taking diuretics and cutting drugs, such as thyroid (T3) and clenbuterol which can also cause abnormal heart rhythm. We need more research on the long-term benefits and risks of low carbohydrate ketogenic diets in the average population as well as in bodybuilders.
Sudden Cardiac Death in Association With the Ketogenic Diet
Ilana M. Bank MD*, Sam D. Shemie MD*, , , Bernard Rosenblatt MD*, Chantal Bernard MD† and Andrew S. Mackie MD*
†Department of Pathology, Montreal Children's Hospital and the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
*Department of Pediatrics, Montreal Children's Hospital and the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Received 14 September 2007;
accepted 13 August 2008.
Available online 21 November 2008.
The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate, adequate-protein diet that is used to decrease the frequency of seizures in patients who have refractory epilepsy. Despite its positive effects in some patients, there are potential adverse effects. Two complications related to the ketogenic diet are selenium deficiency, which has been associated with impaired myocardial function, and QT prolongation as documented on electrocardiography. Reported here are two cases of death in a child on the ketogenic diet for seizure control. In case 1, the child who died of complications related to torsade de pointes, with documented QT prolongation; post mortem examination revealed selenium-deficiency cardiomyopathy. In case 2, a child experienced QT prolongation while on the ketogenic diet and later died suddenly at home. Both children exhibited selenium deficiency. These two cases suggest that patients on the ketogenic diet require monitoring of the QT interval by electrocardiography, myocardial function by echocardiography, and selenium levels before and during the ketogenic diet.
__________________
Steve Blechman, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
