As with any significant change in eating habits, you need to be mindful about safety issues. Make sure to discuss any significant change in your diet with your doctor before starting it.
Here is a guide to provide information on Keto diet safety. If you fall into one of these groups, you need to be extra cautious. This is not an exhaustive list of exclusions so please be sure to discuss your diet with your physician.
Pregnant women
Prolonged maternal ketosis has been associated with development problems for the baby which could affect brain development or increase the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida.
As the risk of harming the baby from being in ketosis during pregnancy is too high, a ketogenic diet is not recommended by doctors.*
Breast feeding women
There is a lack of studies on the safety of ketogenic diets whilst breastfeeding and therefore it is recommended that people maintain a conservative carbohydrate intake rather than going for a very-low carb intake.
People on hypo-causing medication
The following medications can lead to hypos occurring:
- Insulin
- Sulphonylureas (glibenclamide, gliclazide, glimepiride, glipizide, tolbutamide)
- Glinides (nateglinide, repaglinide)
This is because these medications are all designed to increase insulin in the body, which lowers blood sugar levels.
Following a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet whilst on these medications can increase the risk of hypos and so it is very important that you speak with your doctor to take precautions against hypos before you start a ketogenic diet.
*Ketone bodies: a review of physiology, pathophysiology and application of monitoring to diabetes – Lori Laffel. Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews. DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-7560(199911/12)15:6<412::AID-DMRR72>3.0.CO;2-8. Published: November 1999. Retrieved December 21, 2016