Is Ketosis Harmful? page

[z90xhccs]

So I was about to send this to Mark until I realized that I should probably post it on here first, hence why it goes from being addressed to mark to being address to "y'all."

Hey Mark!
A few weeks back I discovered De. Eades blog and started trying out a low carb diet, and more recently I discovered your blog and have been experimenting with the primal fitness plan.
Needless to say, I have been subject to A LOT of new information in the past month or so. Here is the thing, I am a nutrition student studying to become a dietitian and my nutrition teacher, who is a biochemistry major, assured me that, if your body is in a state of ketosis for too long, kidney damage WILL ensue due to the high pH of ketones. Of course, after reading all the information I had, I was pretty sure this wasn't true. I set out on a quest to find studies demonstrating that ketosis wasn't harmful to the kidneys.
Unfortunately, no luck. Every single study and article I have come across talk about high protein, not ketosis specifically. Can y'all help me out?
Thanks!
-Zach

[Dragonfly]

Your teacher is confusing ketosis with ketoacidosis.

[primalrob]

zach...you need to ready mark's post from today. it covers almost this exact situation that someone else had to deal with.

check this out

long story short...ketosis is just fine.

[z90xhccs]

I did. Actually, I saw it and was like, hot dang! What luck! But it doesn't mention ketosis once, just high protein intake.
Unless I totally missed it entirely.

[brahnamin]

You didn't miss it. It's just a similar situation of CW getting the pertinent facts wrong.

[chickenbackside]

Crap. I've been in ketosis for 2 years already.

I wonder why my diabetes has disappeared along with my 40" waistline... Maybe my kidneys ate them up and are in the process of failing...

[brahnamin]

Crap. I've been in ketosis for 2 years already.

I wonder why my diabetes has disappeared along with my 40" waistline... Maybe my kidneys ate them up and are in the process of failing...

Kidneys are tricky like that. You have to keep an eye on them. I recommend installing a camera.

[z90xhccs]

As nice as it would be to point out that a bunch of people are doing this with no harm done, I need something more concrete than personal testimony.

[Dragonfly]

As nice as it would be to point out that a bunch of people are doing this with no harm done, I need something more concrete than personal testimony.

Did you even read my post???

[brahnamin]

The following is from the comment section of THIS post on Dr. Eades' blog. A question very much like yours from a reader and the Doc's answer to that question.

From: Doug
I heard that ketosis is very hard on the kidneys. I have a friend who was born with one kidney, and her doctors expressly forbade her from doing any ketogenic type diets.

What is your view on ketosis and kidney function.

Hi Doug–

It’s not ketosis that is supposedly “very hard on the kidneys,” but a ketogenic diet. The part of the ketogenic diet that is supposedly damaging to the kidneys is the higher protein content of that diet. Much research has shown that dietary protein DOES NOT have an adverse effect on normally functioning kidneys, even if it just one normally functioning kidney. The idea that protein damages kidneys is what I call a vampire myth, one that keeps coming back to life no matter how many times it has been killed by the light of good research.

If you want to read a good summary paper on this issue, click here.

Hope this helps.

MRE