This may not go down well with keto fans, but a top US cardiologist has warned the world against the ketogenic diet, saying that no one should be doing it. Dr Kim Williams, former president of the American College of Cardiology, laid down a caveat if you really want to follow the keto diet: Do it only if weight loss is more important than life.

Dr Williams went after the highly-popular high fat, moderate protein and low carb diet say that it gets its science all wrong. “The issue is that we do not have large-scale, long-term randomised trials. But we have so much observational data,” he speaks of fad diets. 7 Dangers of Keto Diet.

He said in an interview given to Plant Based News that the basic concept of keto sounds good. “You change the dietary habits and you change something. You can make a change you can discipline yourself. Unfortunately, the science of it is wrong,” he says. ‘Keto Is a Diet Fad,’ Says Fitness Expert Jillian Michaels.

Here's the full interview.

He also adds that if it is short-term weight loss that you are aiming at, then keto makes sense. However, practising keto long term may not be a wise thing to do, especially when it comes to cardiac health. Losing belly fat will translate to better health indices, like lowered BP and improved insulin sensitivity. But the diet may spell disaster for heart health.

He mentions a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association which was able to draw parallels between ketogenic diet and people who died of heart attack. “It was a 53 percent increase in mortality,” he asserts. Study Says The Ketogenic Diet Could Increase The Risk For Type 2 Diabetes.

“No one should be doing this,” he states emphatically.

The 2017 study mentions that the keto diet may have some benefits with respect to obesity, type 2 diabetes and HDL cholesterol levels. But the effects are usually limited in time. Since the diet prescribes a lot of fat, there may be some serious health hazards. A study on rodents revealed that keto showed an increased incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and insulin resistance.

Apart from its role in cardiovascular mortality, keto has also been implicated in causing kidney diseases, cardiomyopathy and diabetes risk. Being a restrictive diet, keto can also cause nutritional deficiencies.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 18, 2018 06:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).