A Systematic Review (Before 15 October 2024) on the Effects of Ketogenic Diet on Blood Lipid Levels

The ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, moderate-protein, and low-carbohydrate dietary regimen; resulting in ketosis–a metabolic state where fats become the primary energy source. This diet was originally used to as a dietary treatment for epileptic seizures but recently been explored to manage type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Due to KD’s high-fat content, it may increase blood lipid levels but studies had been inconclusive. Furthermore, there is no systematic review in PubMed examining the effects of KD on blood lipids to-date. Hence, we present a systematic review on the effects of KD on blood lipids using articles indexed in PubMed prior to 15 October 2024. Fifteen students were included from 128 articles. Of which 12 of the 15 studies indicated that KD increases total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG), while 3 studies suggested lipid profile improvements in obese individuals. This suggests that KD is likely to impact blood lipid profiles negatively for non-obese individuals but may improve blood lipid profiles for obese individuals.