Ketones Kill Young Woman

a natural bodily reaction to an extremely low carbohydrate diet

In what should serve as a warning to those people who think there’s nothing wrong with going on a starvation diet a young mother was recently found dead in her bed as a direct consequence of her sudden weight loss.

Her diet which only consisted of a cup of soup at meal times and water eventually caused her body to poison itself. The inquest into her sudden death heard how her body had triggered a metabolic reaction known as ketoacidosis. She had so little glucose in her bloodstream that her body started to use fat reserves producing ketones which can build up in unhealthy quantities and eventually kill.

The inquest was also told that this buildup of ketones was a natural bodily reaction to an extremely low carbohydrate diet which in the short term provides no real danger, however over a long period of time, [in this case fourteen weeks] the consequences can be far more serious and even fatal.

In all the unfortunate woman Ms Helen Anderson who was only 26 years old lost almost six stone over fourteen weeks which led her family to suspect that she had some sort of eating disorder. 

What makes this case unusual is that the woman starved herself despite being of a healthy weight which shows that it is possible to eat extremely unhealthily and dangerously even if you appear to physically be OK. When she died she weighed 9 stone 2lb but because of a chronic lack of nutrients and a buildup of poisonous chemicals in their blood she was unable to survive.

The other thing to know is that healthy weight loss always produces long term benefits and is far more likely to be maintained. People who lose weight unhealthily by taking shortcuts normally end up putting it all back on again.