ketogenic diet

[kee-toh-jen-ik dahy-it]

noun

1. a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet that causes the breakdown of fats into ketone bodies, which consequently replace carbohydrates as the body’s main source of energy: used as a regimen for weight loss, the ketogenic diet is also used to control certain medical disorders or episodes, especially epileptic seizures in children.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ketogenic diet¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Their work focuses on a high-fat, low-carbohydrate eating plan known as the ketogenic diet.

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Inside the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building, Ai-Ling Lin, a professor in the School of Medicine, and doctoral student Kira Ivanich are examining how the ketogenic diet may benefit people with the APOE4 gene, which is the strongest known genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

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In their recent study using mice, Lin and Ivanich found that females with the APOE4 gene developed healthier gut bacteria and showed higher brain energy levels when following a ketogenic diet compared to those on a high-carbohydrate diet.

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The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute and conducted using preclinical mouse models, indicates that breast cancer patients and survivors with obesity might benefit from treatments that reduce lipid levels, and that high-fat diets such as the ketogenic diet could be harmful for them.

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However in those rats fed a ketogenic diet only 22% of male offspring, and 12% of female offspring, developed these problems.

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