Keto-like diet & heart disease

Introduction

I don’t normally do Monday notes on press releases, as there’s no study to dissect. However, this press release has been sent to me by so many people that I need to review it.

The press release drew attention to a presentation at a conference. The conference was called “ACC.23/WCC”, and it took place in New Orleans between 4-6 March 2023. ACC stands for the American College of Cardiology and WCC stands for the World Congress of Cardiology. The conference was described as “bringing together cardiologists and cardiovascular specialists from around the world to share the newest discoveries in treatment and prevention.”

The press release was dated March 5th, 2023, and it was called “‘Keto-Like’ Diet May Be Linked to Higher Risk of Heart Disease, Cardiac Events” (Ref 1). Notice up-front the words “keto-like” providing the caveat that a ketogenic diet has not been studied.

The presentation was made by Dr Iulia Iatan, MD, PhD, attending physician-scientist at the Healthy Heart Program Prevention Clinic, St. Paul’s Hospital and University of British Columbia’s Centre for Heart Lung Innovation in Vancouver, Canada. This reference links to the report of her presentation at the conference on the University of British Columbia website (Ref 2).

Typically, conference presentations are timed to coincide with the publication of an academic paper. I have checked academic databases and can’t see anything from Iatan published at the time of the presentation or since. I emailed Dr Iatan and the communications department at the University of British Columbia to ask about publication. The communications department replied with “The research team informs me that the study has not yet been published, but is currently under review.”