Ketogenic Diet for Preoperative Weight Reduction in Bariatric Surgery: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Bariatric surgery (BS) is the most effective treatment in reducing weight and the burden of comorbidities in patients with severe obesity. Despite the overall low mortality rate, intra- and post-operative complications remains quite common. Weight loss before BS reduces surgical risk, but studies are inconclusive regarding which is the best approach to apply. In this review, we summarize the current evidence on the effect of a ketogenic diet (KD) before BS. All studies agree that KD leads to considerable weight loss and important improvements in terms of surgical risk, but populations, interventions and outcomes are very heterogeneous. KD appears to be a safe and effective approach to induce weight loss before BS. However, randomized controlled trials with better-defined dietary protocols and homogeneous outcomes are necessary in order to draw firm conclusions.

Keywords

• bariatric surgery
• pre-operative weight loss
• ketogenic diet
• very-low-calorie ketogenic diet
• VLCKD