"Very Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet (VLCKD): An Antihypertensive Nutritional Approach" (Barrea et al., 2023) + "Examining the Efficacy of a Very-Low-Carbohydrate Ketogenic Diet on Cardiovascular Health" (Tzenios et al., 2021)

Dr. Lee Now let's look at a study that actually showed blood pressure decreased after a ketogenic diet. The title is Very Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet (VLCKD): An Antihypertensive Nutritional Approach (Barrea et al., 2023), published in 2023. The experiment ran from May 2020 to March 2022. Participants were women aged 30–60 with a BMI of 30 or higher who had previously failed at dieting but wanted to lose weight. A total of 137 women participated. The ketogenic diet provided 800 kilocalories per day, with carbohydrates at 13% (under 30 grams per day). Protein was 1.3 grams per kilogram of body weight, providing 43% of energy. Lipids provided 44% of energy. The ketogenic diet ran for 6 weeks (42 days).

Emily If lipids provide 44% of calories, then the remaining 56% comes from protein and carbohydrates. So the keto ratio would be 44 divided by 56, which is about 0.78.

Dr. Lee Excellent. So even a ketogenic diet doesn't need extremely high lipids — even at a keto ratio around 1.0, it can already help improve health. The results: weight dropped from 97.74 to 90.77 kg — a 7.12 kg loss. BMI fell from 37.00 to 34.37. Waist circumference shrank from 108.93 to 102.71 cm. Systolic BP fell from 140.88 to 122.56 — a drop of 12.89 mmHg. Diastolic BP fell from 88.90 to 78.94 — a drop of 10.93 mmHg.