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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and a patient at Tampa General Hospital found that out the hard way when he overloaded on cheese and fats for his “carnivore diet.”
An article published in JAMA Cardiology said a man in his 40s had been suffering from “yellowish nodules” on his palms, soles, and elbows after going on a carnivore diet for about eight months. The article was written by Dr. Konstantinos Marmagkiolis, an interventional cardiologist for Tampa Heart and Tampa General Hospital, and two other doctors.
“The patient adopted a carnivore diet approximately 8 months before presentation,” an abstract from the article said. “His dietary habits included a high intake of fats, consisting of 6 to 9 lb of cheese, sticks of butter, and additional fat incorporated into his daily hamburgers.”
Initially, the man said he experienced weight loss, increased energy, and mental clarity, but he ended up having to go to Tampa General after his limbs began showing painless nodules, according to Vice.
The JAMA article found that the patient’s cholesterol level exceeded 1000 mg/DL (milligrams of cholesterol per deciliter of blood), a massive increase from his baseline of 210 to 300 mg/DL. For reference, the Cleveland Clinic states that a healthy individual should have a total cholesterol level under 200 mg/DL.
The patient was eventually diagnosed with a condition known as xanthelasma — the build-up of cholesterol under the skin, forming yellow growths that usually appear in the corners of the eyelids.
Fifty percent of people who develop xanthelasma have high cholesterol levels, typically occurring in people between 35 and 55 years of age. This condition is associated with high risks of heart disease and atherosclerosis.
Cholesterol levels can be lowered through exercise, medication, and eating more vegetables and fruits, and fewer fatty foods. You know, like how your body is meant to consume nutrition.
However, xanthelasma does not go away on its own and must be treated either through surgery or other therapeutic methods. Even then, they can reoccur if cholesterol levels are not down to a healthy level, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
What is a carnivore diet? Is it healthy?
Harvard Health defines a carnivore diet as a ketogenic diet that “only allows of meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, fish, some dairy products, and water.”
Most ketogenic or “keto” diets recommend consuming healthier fats like unsaturated fats, but carnivore diets push for the consumption of saturated fat, which raises LDL cholesterol.
According to Healthline, the diet is marketed on the belief that human ancestors ate mostly meat and cheese.
Anthropologists cited by National Geographic said that while meat-eating played a major role in human evolution, hunter-gatherers had a much more omnivorous diet balancing fruits, leaves, and animal products. With the exception of Arctic indigenous groups, most people do not eat animal products exclusively.
“There’s been a consistent story about hunting defining us and that meat made us human,” paleobiologist Amanda Henry told National Geographic. “Frankly, I think that misses half of the story. They want meat, sure. But what they actually live on is plant foods.”
Henry also told the publication she found evidence of starch granules from plants on teeth and stone tools, which implied that humans had been eating grains and tubers for 100,000 years.
It’s also worth noting that while the carnivore diet promotes eating some dairy products as part of the diet, about 68% percent of the world’s human population has a reduced ability to digest lactose, also known as lactose malabsorption after infancy, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Other risks of a carnivore diet include kidney stones, gout, and osteoporosis, according to Harvard Health.
“Because keto diets induce the body to burn fat, all keto diets can jump-start a weight-loss program,” wrote Dr. Howard LeWine, chief medical editor of Harvard Health Publishing. “But I would never recommend a carnivore diet for this purpose.”
