Ketogenic Diet Health and Longevity (KDHL)

The goal of this pilot intervention is to learn about how a well-formulated ketogenic diet (WFKD) impacts various health factors in generally healthy adults. The main questions it aims to answer are: Establish whether an 8-week isocaloric, WFKD improves body composition and metabolic biomarkers in adults without chronic disease. Examine changes in transcriptomic sequencing pathways pre- and post-WFKD intervention. Explore gut microbial changes in adults without chronic disease that consume a WFKD. Participants will follow a well-formulated ketogenic diet for 8-weeks. Study procedures include: Weekly body weight tracking Daily urinary ketone assessment Pre/post stool samples for gut microbiota analyses Pre/post DXA scans Diet quality tracking through 3-day food records

The researchers aim to enroll 20 healthy adults recruited from Kansas City and surrounding areas for an 8-week WFKD diet intervention. Study personnel will obtain baseline (week 0), mid-point (week 4), and end-of-study (8 weeks) blood samples, anthropometrics, and dietary intake data. Fecal microbiome samples and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) are collected at baseline and 8-weeks. Blood samples collected at baseline and 8-week visits will be measured for metabolic biomarkers, inflammatory biomarkers, and RNA. The blood sample collected at the 4-week visit will include glucose, insulin, insulin resistance, and beta-hydroxybutyrate to track diet adherence and adjust the diet as needed.

1:1 ketogenic diet that is focused on intake of high-quality fats (nuts/seeds, fatty fish, avocado) and reduction in processed food.

Measured via RNASequencing (RNA-Seq) technique: high-throughput (~25,000 genes) RNAseq using SE100 Illumina (HiSeq) reads

Taxonomic classification of individual operational taxonomic units (OTU) with 97% similarity and produce an OTU table of all identified taxa across all samples

Inclusion Criteria: 30 to 55 years Speaks English as primary language BMI 20.0-34.9 kg/m^2 Exclusion Criteria: Certain medications (statin, blood pressure, thyroid hormone replacement, etc.) Prior medical diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus, cancer requiring chemotherapy or radiation therapy within 5 years, cardiac event, GI disorders, traumatic brain injury/multiple concussions, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or any diagnosis deemed ineligible by study team History of renal stones Currently lactating Already following a ketogenic diet Adherence to a specialized diet regimen that disallows compliance Use of tobacco or tobacco replacement products within 1 year