A study from UT Health San Antonio finds that a long-term ketogenic diet can cause cellular aging in organs like the heart and kidneys, suggesting the need for intermittent breaks to avoid these effects.
Long-term ketogenic diets can lead to aging of cells in vital organs, but the intermittent ketogenic diet with regular breaks prevents these negative impacts.
A strict “keto-friendly” diet is popular for weight loss and diabetes. However, depending on the diet and the individual, this may not be so user-friendly.
New research has shown that a long-term, continuous ketogenic diet can induce senescence or aging of cells in normal tissues, with effects on heart and kidney function in particular. However, an intermittent ketogenic diet, with planned keto vacations or breaks, showed no pro-inflammatory effects due to cell aging. This is according to the study led by researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio).
The results have significant clinical implications, suggesting that the beneficial effect of a ketogenic diet could be enhanced by planned breaks.
“To put this in perspective, 13 million Americans are on a ketogenic diet, and we say you need to take breaks from this diet or there could be long-term consequences,” said David Gius, MD, PhD, vice dean of research. and professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, and associate cancer director for translational research at the institution’s Mays Cancer Center.
He is the lead author of the new study, “The ketogenic diet induces p53-dependent cellular senescence in multiple organs,” published May 17 in the journal Scientists progress. Other authors also work in the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Mays Cancer Center, as well as the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, the Center for Precision Medicine, the School of Nursing and the Division of Nephrology in the UT Department of Medicine. Health San Antonio; and the Houston Methodist Cancer Center and the Houston Methodist Research Institute.
Too many good things
A ketogenic diet, commonly called keto-friendly, is a high-fat, low-carb diet that leads to the generation of ketones, a type of chemical that the liver produces when it breaks down fats. Although a ketogenic diet improves some health conditions and is popular for weight loss, pro-inflammatory effects have also been reported.
The new study shows that mice subjected to two different ketogenic diets and at different ages induced cellular senescence in several organs, including the heart and kidneys. However, this cellular senescence was eliminated by a senolytic, or a class of small molecules capable of destroying senescence cells, and prevented by administration of an intermittent ketogenic diet.
“As cellular senescence has been implicated in the pathology of organ diseases, our results have important clinical implications for understanding the use of a ketogenic diet,” Gius said. “As with other nutritional interventions, you need to “take a keto break.” »
Reference: “Ketogenic diet induces p53-dependent cellular senescence in multiple organs” by Sung-Jen Wei, Joseph R. Schell, E. Sandra Chocron, Mahboubeh Varmazyad, Guogang Xu, Wan Hsi Chen, Gloria M. Martinez, Felix F Dong, Prethish Sreenivas, Rolando TrevinoJr., Haiyan Jiang, Yan Du, Afaf Saliba, Wei Qian, Brandon Lorenzana, Alia Nazarullah, Jenny Chang, Kumar Sharma, Erin Munkácsy, Nobuo Horikoshi and David Gius, May 17, 2024. Scientists progress.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado1463
UT Health San Antonio is the largest academic research institution in South Texas, with an annual research portfolio of $413 million.
News Source : scitechdaily.com
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