Research

Hormonal

A ketogenic diet causes an upward trend in serum uric acid levels, potentially increasing the risk of gout, requiring increased water intake and possibly sodium bicarbonate to mitigate.

Be aware that starting a ketogenic diet may raise your uric acid levels, which can trigger gout. To mitigate this, drink at least 2 liters of water daily. If you have a history of gout, consult your doctor before starting.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
However, UA(serum uric acid) in the KD group showed an upward trend, while in the control group was not changed significantly (P > 0.05).
Sumei Li et al. · BMC Endocrine Disorders · 2022

Why this rating

Observed in the same RCT, but the magnitude of increase is not quantified in the text, only 'upward trend'.

Source

The effect of periodic ketogenic diet on newly diagnosed overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes

Sumei Li et al. · BMC Endocrine Disorders · 2022

DOI 10.1186/s12902-022-00947-2

rct · n=60Cited 58×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →