What’s wrong with an extremely high fat diet of beef, cheese and sticks of butter? Well, for one thing, your cholesterol levels could reach such stratospheric levels that lipids start oozing out of your blood vessels, forming yellowish nodules on your skin.
It was the worrying case of a man in Florida who showed up at a Tampa hospital with yellow, painless rashes on the palms of his hands, soles of his feet and elbows for three weeks. His case was published today in JAMA Cardiology.
Painless yellowish nodules were observed on the patient’s palms (A) and elbows. B, Enlarged view of palmar lesions. These lesions are consistent with xanthelasma, likely resulting from severe hypercholesterolemia associated with a high-fat carnivorous diet.
Credit: JAMA Cardiologym 2024, Marmagkiolis et al.
The man, believed to be in his 40s, told doctors he had adopted a “carnivore diet” eight months previously. His diet included between 6 and 9 pounds of cheese, sticks of butter, and daily hamburgers containing extra fat. Since adopting the challenging eating plan, he says his weight has dropped, his energy levels have increased and his “mental clarity” has improved.
During this time, his total cholesterol level exceeded 1,000 mg/dL. For context, an optimal total cholesterol level is below 200 mg/dL, while 240 mg/dL is considered the “high” cutoff. Cardiologists noted that before following his fatty diet, his cholesterol levels were between 210 mg/dL and 300 mg/dL.
