Introduction
Question: Do Ketogenic Diets Lower Glutathione?
And so what a ketogenic diet does is put you in a low insulin to glucagon ratio longterm and the insulin to glucagon ratio is what is used for the body to perceive whether it has enough energy to invest in making glutathione. And so the reason the liver's glutathione is going to go down on a ketogenic diet is because you're in the fasting state.
Glutathione synthesis is a fed state process. It's something that goes down in the fasting state and up in the fed state period. And so if you're using a diet that is mimicking the fasting state and is allowing you to carry out fasting state physiology for a longer period of time than you would be able to go on zero calories, then you're going to mimic the fasting state. And the fasting state is characterized by lower glutathione synthesis. And that's the end of it.
These are the studies we discussed on the ketogenic diet and glutathione levels:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18466343/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3102314/
This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here:
080: Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, December 2, 2020
DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice.
Listen to the Audio
I highly recommend watching the video above but you can also listen to the audio here:
Read the Transcript or Leave a Comment
Masterpass members have access to the transcript below.
Masterpass members can also read and leave comments below. Non-members can read and leave comments on the general podcast page.
Learn more about the Masterpass here.
