Health Checks for the Ketogenic Diet

Because of the Health Risks of the Ketogenic Diet, health tests and monitoring are important. The Ketogenic Diet should be under medical supervision, which includes this testing and monitoring.

1 Basic Monitoring

These tests are critical for the Ketogenic Diet, and several can be performed at home.

• Ketone Testing. To know if you are on a ketogenic diet or not, you will need to check your ketone levels.
  • Daily Blood Ketone Testing. The levels of Blood Ketones should be checked each day.
  • Urine Ketone Levels. In addition to checking Blood Ketones, it is fairly cheap and simple to check urine ketone levels. This is not as accurate or reliable as blood testing, but it can be performed more frequently, so you get a sense of how your ketone levels change through the day.
• Blood Glucose. Blood glucose should be monitored every 6–8 hours during the first few days of the diet.
• Blood in the Urine. Because of the risk of kidney stones, urine should be checked for trace levels of blood at least weekly. It can be done with Multistix or the cheaper Phinex Multistix equivalent. These strips check for 10 different things, including trace blood, Ketone levels, hydration status and urine acidity.
• Blood lipid levels. Cholesterol and triglyceride levels should be checked before starting the diet, and every few months.
• Blood selenium levels should be checked every three months, though this may not be frequent enough. Selenium deficiency can occur rapidly; one child was diagnosed with selenium deficiency and related heart problems before their scheduled 3 month selenium test.

2 Recommended Laboratory Tests

The following tests are recommended for children starting the ketogenic diet for epilepsy.

• Complete blood count (CBC). A CBC gives information about the numbers and kinds of cells in the blood, especially red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
• Electrolytes, including serum bicarbonate, total protein, calcium, zinc, selenium, Magnesium and phosphate.
• Serum liver and kidney test (including albumen, AST, ALT, blood urea nitrogen creatinine).
• Fasting lipid profile.
• Serum acylcarnitine profile.
• Urine calcium and creatinine.
• Urine organic salts.
• Serum amino acids.

In addition to the basic monitoring, I used walkinlab.com for:

• Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP-14) which covers 14 laboratory tests including electrolytes, kidney and liver function.
• Lipid Panel Blood Test which includes Cholesterol (HDL/LDL) and triglycerides.
• Ferritin Serum Test for iron deficiency.
• I should have included Vitamin C testing.

3 See Also

• The classifications and types of Low Carbohydrate Diet.
• An introduction to the Ketogenic Diet.
• My experiences with ultrarunning on the Ketogenic Diet
  • How the Ketogenic Diet can be used for the treatment and management of disease.
    • Using the Ketogenic Diets to mitigate and treat Epilepsy
    • How Ketogenic Diets might help with Cancer
    • A look at the possible mechanisms of action of the Ketogenic Diet
  • Health Risks of the Ketogenic Diet
    • Health Checks for the Ketogenic Diet
    • Supplements for the Ketogenic Diet
  • The time frame and changes that occur with Ketoadaptation
  • What are Ketones
    • How to measure Ketones
    • What ketone levels to aim for
  • The pros and cons of the Ketogenic Diet for athletes
    • The Science of Ketogenic Exercise
  • The Types of Ketogenic Diet
    • The "traditional" Ketogenic Diet based on the Ketogenic Ratio
      • The ways the Ketogenic Ratio can be calculated
        • The different definitions of Net Carbohydrates
    • Low Glycemic Index Treatment
    • MCT Diet
      • MCT
    • Modified Atkins Diet (M.A.D.)
• My Ketogenic Recipes
• Non-Ketogenic Low Carbohydrate Diets