Risks of carnivore diet revealed as doctor warns of its concerning results
Topics: News, Health, Food and Drink
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Photo
Topics: News, Health, Food and Drink
A doctor has warned of the risks of adhering to a carnivore diet as the practice sees an increase in popularity.
On the one hand there's vegetarianism and veganism, but other people decide to take things entirely in the opposite direction and actually live off just eating meat.
Doctor Emeka Okorocha has now opened up about the impact that this diet could have on its adherents.
Doctor Emeka is an NHS Doctor and Author of Your Health in Your Hands available on Amazon.
Advert
In theory, the diet prioritizes a high protein intake, as well as cutting out things like sugars and carbohydrates.
But despite its popularity, Dr Emeka has warned against trying out the diet due to the health risks that are associated with it.
As its name suggests, the carnivore diet sees people living almost entirely off meat.
Dr Emeka said: "The carnivore diet, which many people are discussing, consists of meat, fish, eggs, and sometimes dairy, whilst excluding fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and plant foods."
This is very restrictive, as adherents avoid any plant-based foods altogether.
When it comes to benefits of the diet, Dr Emeka was very clear, saying: "It’s one of the most restricted diets and there is very little scientific evidence supporting long-term health benefits."
He added: "Some individuals have reported improvements in gastrointestinal symptoms such as irritable bowel syndrome, certain inflammatory symptoms and food sensitivity."
The doctor went on to say that there could be 'plausible' benefits for the diet, but these are still not 'completely proven'.
"Some of the plausible benefits which are yet to be completely proven by scientific evidence could be weight loss as protein is highly filling, and the food choices become become limited which may reduce calorific intake and carbohydrates and ultra processed foods," he said.
"It could also lead to blood sugar control for people with type two diabetes resulted in lower blood glucose levels and reduced insulin requirements."
Dr Emeka highlighted that there are a lot of risks associated with an all-meat diet.
"The major downsides and potential risks are nutritional deficiencies," he explained. "You may see deficiencies in vitamin C, folate, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, and various other nutrients as although fresh meat contains small amounts of nutrients, long-term adequacy remains a concern."
That's not it either, as if you're avoiding greens and roughage then this can lead to some issues when going to the toilet.
"You may see an increased in LDL, basically the bad cholesterol and a lack of dietary fibre can lead to constipation and changes in the gut biome," he said.
"Also high intake of animal proteins can increase a risk of kidney stones, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular uncertainty."
In other words - eat your vegetables.