Recently, the keto diet has been tied to potential tactical advantages available to the U.S. military, specifically to Navy SEALs. Research has indicated that ketosis could prevent seizures, which is something that some military personnel are at increased risk of due to their mission requirements. On stealth missions, not only are SEALs at risk for oxygen deprivation like other deep-sea divers, but SEALs must use closed-circuit rebreathers in which they rebreathe exhaled air to reduce bubbles on the water’s surface, which increases their risk of seizures.
However, ketosis has a history of being used to prevent seizures. Ketosis changes how the body handles oxygen deprivation by utilizing stored fat for energy rather than blood sugar. Essentially, as professor David Ludwig in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health explains, the burning of fat reduces the amount of carbon dioxide produced by the body.1 Because we breathe in response to the buildup of carbon dioxide, ketosis allows someone to breathe less often.
Study suggests SEALs could increase diving time by up to 600%
A hallmark study in 2015 focused on how the keto diet provides this preventative effect. The D’Agostino lab at the University of South Florida gave ketone supplements to rats and placed the experimental group in hyperbaric chambers to simulate deep-water diving conditions.2 The rats on keto supplements experienced fewer seizures than the control group. Dr. Dean, one of the researchers in the lab, remarked that “If what we’ve observed in rat model experiments holds true in humans, the Navy diver should be able to increase the amount of time spent at a depth of 50 feet of seawater by 600 percent… which means that the divers could get more work done with fewer dives.”
There might even be potential benefits of a low-carb diet for all military members. There is some question as to whether it is feasible for Navy SEALs to adopt a restrictive low-carb diet while on missions, so the USF lab is currently working on how to leverage supplements to achieve “therapeutic ketosis in 30 minutes, instead of a week.”3
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The content on this website should not be taken as medical advice and you should ALWAYS consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. We provide nutritional data for our recipes as a courtesy to our readers. We use Total Keto Diet app software to calculate the nutrition and we remove fiber and sugar alcohols, like erythritol, from the total carbohydrate count to get to the net carb count, as they do not affect your blood glucose levels. You should independently calculate nutritional information on your own and not rely on our data. The website or content herein is not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease. This website shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on the Website or actions you take as a result. Any action you take is strictly at your own risk.
Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD is an aesthetic medicine specialist whose work focuses on patients who are treated for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and other weight-related issues through nutritional analysis, keto diet programs, and supporting medications.
- Keto Might Give Navy SEALs an Advantage - July 18, 2019
- The Primary Roles of Fat in Our Diets - July 8, 2019
- Low Carb Tech is Transforming Diabetes Treatment - June 21, 2019
