The Hazards Of Low Carbohydrate Diets
Due to the craze about weight loss in the recent years; a number of people, particularly women, have been loading their diets with a lot of proteins and less carbohydrates, hoping that this will assist them in losing weight. Some professionals advice their clients to take low fat and low carbohydrates diets while others advice on the consumption of more proteins and animal fats which have all been found to have a lot of side effects individual taking them since they can result in heart disease, diabetes and kidney complications (Silberstein and Pascual Para. 2).
The diets high in proteins are effective in losing weight because; when high proteins are taken and less carbohydrates are consumed then it means that the body will lack glucose to metabolize so as to provide energy for the body, the body will therefore be forced to act on the body’s fats reserves and as a result a significant weight loss may be realized. The problem with this is that as the fats get broken down, ketones are produced. Ketones are quite toxic to the body and therefore a lot of water is needed to remove them from the body. This water if not replaced then the individual is likely to suffer dehydration, he or she may also experience constipation and irregular heart rhythms (Silberstein and Pascual Para. 6)
According to research, it has been found that low carbohydrate and high protein diets are never effective agents of weight loss in the long-term and can even cause serious medical complications. The low carbohydrates diet has been found to result in a lot of wastes in the kidney, this may contribute to the development of serious kidney complications in the long-term, and an increased level of uric acid in the diet as a result of the low carbohydrate intake may cause gout disease (Silberstein and Pascual Para. 13).
A low carbohydrates diet, also known as ketogenic diets depletes the glycogen reserves in the body. The body normally stores excess glucose in the form of glycogen in the muscles and in the liver and only releases it in situations of extreme starvation. Taking of a low carbohydrates diet therefore means little available glucose for the body to burn for fuel. This will trigger glucogenolysis; the breaking down of glycogen into glucose to be used in energy production. This will cause the depletion of the glycogen reserves and as a result the individual will suffer dehydration and loss of muscles.
The depletion of the glycogen in the muscles may make the individual to have less energy and may frequently experience fatigue. It has also been shown by research that the fatigue in the muscles is directly proportional to the rate of glycogen depletion in the muscle. This will make the individual to feel weak and therefore he or she will not be able to exercise more; this will have negative impact on the basal metabolic rates and caloric expenditure of the body (Landry Para 2)
The muscle normally use glycogen for energy during movement but when there is less glycogen reserves in the muscles, then the muscles will be obliged to use glucose instead. This will result into a mixture of the two sources of energy and as a result the muscles will contract less than it does in a normal situation, this is known as muscle loss or muscle atrophy. (Landry Para 3)
When the body has low levels carbohydrates, the cells will start converting the proteins in the body into glucose through the process of gluconeogenesis; the glucose will then be metabolized to provide energy for the body. Since the low carbohydrates level normally results in the low levels of insulin in the blood, the breakdown of proteins will continue and finally the synthesis of proteins will stop. This will be detrimental to the body since the proteins are needed in the body for quite a number of activities.
Low carbohydrates levels have been associated with low metabolic rates because metabolism normally occur in the muscles. Therefore if the glycogen in the muscles gets depleted then it means that there will be less muscle tone and as a result a reduced rate of metabolism in the body. (Landry Para. 6)
Low carbohydrates level have also been associated with lack of homogenous skin tone, this is as result of the exhaustion of the muscle glycogen thereby leaving the muscles appearing saggy, this will also make the skin to appear slack. This may also be as a result of the water from the body being used in the elimination of the waste products of glycogen catabolism from the blood, thereby making the individual’s body to be dehydrated. This therefore makes the skin to appear non- homogeneous and flabby.
Research has shown that the brain needs more than a hundred grams of carbohydrates every day for it to functions at an optimum level. This is because the brain normally requires the carbohydrates in glucose form to provide it with energy for its activities. A low level of glucose in the body therefore translates into low glucose for the brain. Hence the brain will not function at that expected capacity. This will therefore affect the individual in that he or she will experience a reduced brain functioning in terms of memory, attentiveness and coordination of a number of activities (Murray Para. 2). This is likely to affect the development of an individual especially a young child.
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