Let's keep in mind that this is a statistical group of 1. The authors are entitled to their opinions, and maybe it is something for the medical community to keep in mind in the event that a fair number of kids start to "come in with sudden death", but it's very difficult to draw any conclusions about the diet from this one case.

Not that I'm an advocate of low-carb diets. If the young woman had been a vegan, or a fast food junky, or a smoker, or whatever other kind of villain, I'd say the same thing.

Keith Maclin

>>> [log in to unmask] 10/31/02 04:16PM >>>
[log in to unmask] wrote:

>I keep reading things about ketosis... it's bad, it's not bad, it's bad... maybe this is in the archive but can we do a discussion on this?  When I think about ketosis and eating no carbs,  I wonder if this sort of thing happened to the Native American tribes that ate nothing but meat all winter long.  Seems like it'd be natural to reach ketosis for those people.  Did they have these problems?  I bet they didn't.  I'm sure many of you out there reach ketosis frequently... maybe even regularly.
>

A sudden reduction in carbs carries a risk.  Allan and Lutz discuss this
in Life Without Bread.  One risk is electrolyte depletion.  A low-carb
diet (even if it is not ketogenic) has a diuretic effect, and sudden
diuresis can flush electrolytes out of the system.  If there is an
underlying heart rhythm problem, this can aggravate it.  When carbs are
depleted, the body uses stress hormones to trigger gluconeogenesis, and
this can have a cardiac effect too.  In short, there is no way to know
in advance how your body will respond to sudden ketosis, so there is a
risk involved.  An anorexic/bulimic person very likely has a weakened
heart to begin with, due to tissue loss from the eating disorder, so the
risk is somewhat greater in that case.   After a period of adaptation,
electrolyte balance should be restored, gluconeogenesis should proceed
at a suitable rate, and there should be no problem.  The risk, I
believe, is primarily during that period of adaptation, which is
probably a good enough reason to reduce carbs gradually.

Todd Moody
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