Exploring the Perception about Ketogenic Diet among Young Adults

Obesity is a very common yet very alarming public health problem. It is a risk factor for several other serious health issues. Recent studies have proved that the Ketogenic diet is an effective tool of weight loss along with several other therapeutic benefits for curing disorders such as Type 2 diabetes, Epilepsy etc. This article therefore aims to check respondents' lifestyle and their awareness about ketogenic diet through the various sources of information, constituents for ketogenic diet, knowledge, purpose and usefulness of ketogenic diet, types, metabolic effect, side effects, willingness to adopt and their recommendations to others as half – baked information received from random sources and adopted without the supervision and guidance from professional therapists can lead to potential harm. A questionnaire- based survey was conducted in 240 students in the age group of 18 – 25 years to check their awareness. 64.9% were not aware about Ketogenic diet and believed that ketogenic diet helps in weight loss, bodybuilding and muscle toning, which is not the purpose of ketogenic diet. 51.2% of respondents did not know about its other emerging therapeutic potentials.