Ketogenic Diet and Military Personnel Training.

Dietary guidelines for Americans have advocated low-fat, high-carbohydrate foods. Americans have followed these guidelines for decades marked by a significant increase in the absolute amount of carbohydrate, a dietary pattern temporally-associated with the marked rise in obesity.  An emerging body of evidence demonstrates broad-spectrum health benefits attributed to being in nutritional ketosis.  This study followed military personnel and demonstrated high adherence to a ketogenic diet (KD) and showed remarkable weight loss and improvements in body composition, including loss of visceral fat, without compromising physical performance adaptations to exercise training. Implementation of a KD represents a credible strategy to enhance overall health and readiness of military service members who could benefit from weight loss and improved body composition.

Fountain, RA, et.al. 2019. Military Medicine. 184, 9/10:5. e535-e544.