An extreme diet of cheese and butter caused his hands to fill with cholesterol and look like this

Choosing what diet is good for you and your metabolism is almost and age old conundrum, with many experts and pseudo experts claiming to have the ultimate solution that will make you lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle, but sometimes trying out these fads, especially without doctor supervision can be very dangerous, as one man found out when he took on the  “carnivore diet” and almost passed away from the results.

The case is quite compelling, and as such it was published (anonymizing all data from the original patient, of course) by Dr. Konstantinos Marmagkiolis, an interventional cardiologist for Tampa Heart and Tampa General Hospital, and two other doctors, who treated the patient when he came into the hospital presenting “yellowish nodules” on his palms, soles, and elbows after going on a carnivore diet for about eight months.

How the “carnivore diet” was responsible for the patient’s illness

An abstract from the article explained the beginning of his journey “The patient adopted a carnivore diet approximately 8 months before presentation. 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.”

Despite what it may seem when considering the demonization of fat in the last few decades, the man initially experienced great side effects, like weight loss, increased energy, and mental clarity, but this soon changed when he started noticing nodules in his limbs. According to the article, the patient’s cholesterol level exceeded 1000 mg/DL (milligrams of cholesterol per deciliter of blood), which, considering that the baseline for a healthy individual is a total cholesterol level under 200 mg/DL, is quite a dangerous jump.

This meant only one thing, the nodules were the effect of a condition known as xanthelasma, which is the build-up of cholesterol under the skin. This condition causes yellow growths to grow under the skin and is a symptom of high cholesterol levels. It is also associated with high risks of heart disease and atherosclerosis.

The treatment for the root cause, high cholesterol levels is simple, eat fat in moderation, exercise, eat more fruits and vegetables and, in some cases, take a pill that helps the body eliminate the excess. As many like to call it, life in moderation with a balanced way of eating. But the treatment for the xanthelasmas is not as simple or painless. They do not go away on their own and need to be excised through surgery, and once they have formed once they can be a recurring condition if cholesterol rises again.

Does this one patient mean that the whole “carnivore diet” should be left behind? In short yes. Harvard Health defines a carnivore diet as a ketogenic diet that “only allows of meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, fish, some dairy products, and water.” This is not enough nutritional variety to stay healthy and, unlike other keto diets where the recommendation is to eat healthier fats like unsaturated fats, the “carnivore diet” pushes for saturated fat, which raises LDL cholesterol.

Paleobiologist Amanda Henry told National Geographic about the dubious origins of this way of eating and its effectiveness “There’s been a consistent story about hunting defining us and that meat made us human. Frankly, I think that misses half of the story. They want meat, sure. But what they actually live on is plant foods.”

Additionally, there have been plenty of recorded evidence of starch granules from plants on teeth and stone tools, meaning that humans had variety in their diets more than 100,000 years ago.

Dr. Howard LeWine, chief medical editor of Harvard Health Publishing corroborates the unhealthiness of the diet by stating “Because keto diets induce the body to burn fat, all keto diets can jump-start a weight-loss program. But I would never recommend a carnivore diet for this purpose.” Side effects include kidney stones, gout, and osteoporosis amongst many others.