Does a Ketogenic Diet Change Your Lipid Profile - Perfect Keto

Fact Checked by Dr. Anthony Gustin, DC, MS
Published January 23, 2019 by Chris Irvin, MS

Worried about your cholesterol levels on the keto diet? Learn how to build a healthy, positive lipid profile while reaping the benefits of ketosis.

Wrong and outdated health information often causes worry about the healthiness of the ketogenic diet. One of the biggest concerns is: does a ketogenic diet change your lipid profile?

In order to tackle and address these concerns, we’ll be covering what lipid profile means, why it’s included in myths about the ketogenic diet and why you don’t need to worry about most of what you’ve been told.

Lipids and the Ketogenic Diet

The main purpose of the ketogenic diet today is to provide a measurable state of metabolism through nutritional ketosis. There are many benefits of ketosis, including weight loss, better mental clarity, and more energy. These benefits make the ketogenic diet enticing, but what about how it affects lipids in the body?

To understand this, let’s discuss what lipids are and the beliefs surrounding them and the keto diet.

What is a Lipid Profile?

A lipid profile is the measure of fats and fatty substances (lipids) that your body uses as energy. These are usually measured via a lipid panel of blood tests meant to look for any irregularities in your lipid amounts.

Lipids include:

• Triglycerides
• Cholesterol
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL, often know as “good,” cholesterol)
• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL, often known as “bad,” cholesterol)

The ketogenic diet raises some concerns around the diet negatively affecting one’s lipid profile and increasing their risks of diseases related to high cholesterol or triglycerides. Let’s take a look at these concerns.

Myths About Fat and Cholesterol

Below are some of the myths when it comes to the ketogenic diet and lipid profiles. We’re used to hearing many of these due to bad or old science — and we all know the internet is rampant with poor (and sometimes harmful) information.

Myth: Cholesterol is bad.

A huge misconception about diets that are low-carb and high in animal protein and fat is that they’re bad for your cholesterol. The thought is that eating foods that contain saturated fat and dietary cholesterol lead to elevated blood cholesterol levels, which is bad for health.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Cholesterol is good! In fact, it’s necessary for living. It’s important for the creation of hormones, vitamins, and other vital substances. It’s crucial for the function of every cell wall in the body.

And we now know that not only does a low-carb/high-fat diet bring better weight loss results, it’s not harmful to heart health as once believed.

Myth: Low-carb diets raise cholesterol and cause heart disease.

Again, this is the most common rumor about cholesterol regarding a ketogenic or low-carb diet—that the intake of saturated fat and dietary cholesterol will cause heart disease.

But here’s the truth: there is actually no conclusive evidence supporting that diets high in fat or saturated fat lead to heart problems or an increase in cholesterol. People have just been told this for so many years that it’s become accepted as fact.

Healthy saturated fats are actually necessary part of a healthy diet. See these healthy ketogenic diet foods.

Now that we’ve covered the biggest myths, it’s important to understand what is actually true about how the ketogenic diet can affect your lipid profile and your health.

The Truth About the Ketogenic Diet and Lipids

Let’s look at some of the most important facts about the ketogenic diet and its relation to one’s lipid profile:

Lipid Profile Changes on the Ketogenic Diet

The facts show that a well-planned low-carb diet can actually lead to a better cholesterol profile, not a harmful one.

In obese patients, a ketogenic diet has been shown to significantly (within 24 weeks):

• Decrease weight
• Decrease BMI
• Decrease total cholesterol
• Increase HDL cholesterol levels
• Decrease LDL cholesterol levels

If you hear anyone talk about elevated cholesterol from a low-carb diet, that’s likely due to an increase in HDL cholesterol, which is actually beneficial and means a LOWER risk of heart disease because it increases HDL to LDL cholesterol ratio.

Plus, a whole foods, ketogenic diet eliminates sugar-creating foods that can cause inflammation and damage to the arteries. Since your body has less glucose available to make cholesterol, total cholesterol levels will drop.

You can also expect a drop in triglyceride levels, as eating carbohydrates spikes your triglyceride levels — so, a great decrease in carbs means lower triglyceride readings.