Ketogenic Diets for Body Weight Loss: A Comparison with Other Diets

Abstract

With the prevalence of obesity and overweight increasing at an alarming rate, more and more researchers are focused on identifying effective weight loss strategies. The ketogenic diet (KD), used as a treatment in epilepsy management for over 100 years, is additionally gaining popularity as a weight loss method. Although its efficacy in weight loss is well documented, the areas where it may be beneficial to other dietary approaches need to be carefully examined. The objective of this paper is to identify the potential benefits of the KD over alternative dietary weight loss strategies based on a comprehensive literature review. It has been shown that the KD may be more bioenergetically efficient than other dietary strategies, inter alia owing to its effect on curtailing hunger, improving satiety and decreasing appetite (influence on hunger and satiety hormones and the sensation of hunger), inducing faster initial weight loss (associated with lower glycogen levels and reduced water retention), and controlling glycaemia and insulinemia (directly attributable to the low-carbohydrate nature of KD and indirectly to the other areas described). These effects are accompanied by improved insulin sensitivity, reduced inflammation (through ketone bodies and avoidance of pro-inflammatory sugars), reduced need for pharmacological obesity control (the diet's mechanisms are similar to those of medication but without the side effects), and positive impacts on psychological factors and food addiction. Based on the authors' review of the latest research, it is reasonable to conclude that, due to these many additional health benefits, the KD may be advantageous to other diet-based weight loss strategies. This important hypothesis deserves further exploration, which could be achieved by including outcome measures other than weight loss in future clinical trials, especially when comparing different diets of equal caloric value.

Keywords: appetite; body weight; glycaemic; hunger; inflammation; insulin resistance; ketogenic diet; low carb; metabolic psychiatry; obesity; weight loss.

Figure 1

Potential effects of the ketogenic diet on appetite regulation. Created in BioRender. Rodzeń, M. (2025); https://BioRender.com/l21k241 (access date: 8 March 2025).

Figure 2

Rapid initial weight loss on the ketogenic diet. Created in BioRender. Rodzeń, M. (2025); https://BioRender.com/l45r024 (access date: 8 March 2025).

Figure 3

Glycaemic stabilisation on the ketogenic diet. Created in BioRender. Rodzeń, M. (2025); https://BioRender.com/j88s022 (access date: 8 March 2025).

Figure 4

The impact of the ketogenic diet on insulin levels. Created in BioRender. Rodzeń, M. (2025); https://BioRender.com/q23l680 (access date: 8 March 2025).

Figure 5

Ketogenic diet and its effect on inflammation. Created in BioRender. Rodzeń, M. (2025); https://BioRender.com/r32o790 (access date: 8 March 2025).

Figure 6

The impact of the ketogenic diet on the need for weight loss medications. Created in BioRender. Rodzeń, M. (2025); https://BioRender.com/z39m516 (access date: 8 March 2025).

Figure 7

The ketogenic diet and psychological aspects. Created in BioRender. Rodzeń, M. (2025); https://BioRender.com/r80i301 (access date: 8 March 2025).

Figure 8

Body weight comparison on the ketogenic diet vs. other types of diets [140,142,209,211,212,213,214,215,217]. Created in https://BioRender.com (access date: 8 March 2025).

Figure 9

The possible mechanisms underlying the reduction in body weight on the carnivore diet. Created in BioRender. Rodzeń, M. (2025); https://BioRender.com/m25r913 (access date: 8 March 2025).