The Keto diet could be less effective in women: What is the reason?

Madrid, Jan 2 (Europa Press) -

Scientists from the University of California in Riverside (United States) are studying how popular ketogenic diets, or Keto, and intermittent fasting, and if both sexes benefit from them equally.

The idea that underlies the Keto diet is that low levels of carbohydrates and very high levels of fats and proteins force the body to use fat as fuel, which translates into weight loss.

Intermittent fasting works according to a similar principle, restricting food to a small time space during the day.During the hours without food, the body exhausts its sugar reserves and goes to burn fat.Fat becomes ketone bodies that the brain can use as fuel.

Despite their popularity, scientists have not yet identified the genes or proteins that allow these diets to work, if they do.

"The metabolic change between sugar and fat is incredible that we still do not understand. But if we do, we can say if the keto is suitable for you," says Dr. Sarah Radi.

Through a subsidy of almost two million euros from the National Health Institutes of the United States, it will allow RADI and the French Cell Biology professor Slack to investigate that change.They believe they already have an idea of how it could work.

The key is probably a protein called HNF4 that is at high levels in the liver.It is a transcription factor, which converts DNA into RNA, which then becomes new proteins, and occurs in two forms, P1 or P2.

The team originally investigated the P2 as a pro-Cancer protein.They did not find a relationship with cancer, but they did notice that mice with high levels of P2 in their livers also had different genes for metabolism.

They also realized that the P2 appears in the latest amount of the day, which could explain why the mice did not gain so much weight if eating time was restricted, even if the mice ate too much.

I suspected that an enzyme that detects energy could cause the change between P1 and P2, which could allow the process of burning fat to obtain energy."That is what we try to demonstrate," she explains.

In this study, special attention will be paid to the way in which male and females mice respond to the keto and intermittent fasting diets.Some investigations suggest that there are differences.

"The Keto diet does not seem to work so well for women, because we metabolize fat differently and we have different genes that are activated and deactivated in response to fasting. But we really don't know why it is so or how it happens; that is whatWe hope to learn, "says Slack.

Regardless of whether the diet is effective for any sex, researchers warn that no diet must be taken to the extreme.It is not clear if all fat is metabolized in a ketogenic or fasting diet, or if many of it simply accumulates in the body.

Standard Japanese diets contain a 20 percent fat, the American average 35 percent and the Keto can contain up to 70 or 80 percent, which is probably an unsustainable amount.

"If you eat a lot of fat, in the long run it will make you fat. If you eat too much of anything, it will make you fat, including carrots. Ultimately, the most important thing is the amount you eat, what you eat and the time of day inWhat do you eat, "says Slack.