Effectiveness and Safety of a Very Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet on Weight Regain Following Bariatric Surgery

Purpose Obesity is one of the major public health problems worldwide and bariatric surgery is considered the gold standard treatment for severe obesity. Although the literature supports the safety and efficacy of the very low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD) in patients with obesity, there is no study analyzing the use in case of failure or weight regain after bariatric surgery. This work has the purpose of assessing the response to a VLCKD (Pnk® method) in this population. Methods We have conducted an observational, retrospective, and descriptive study with the analysis of medical charts of private offices where patients were examined between 2014 and 2019, totalizing 11 participants who underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) without a reduction of 50% in body weight excess or any weight regain after the surgery. The patients followed the first stage of a commercial weight loss program (Pnk® method) which consists of a VLCKD (600–800 kcal/day), low in carbohydrates and lipids. Results A significant reduction was observed ( p -value