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Low-carb diets ‘affect your brain like taking Ecstasy-style drugs’

Low-carb diets such as the Atkins diet don’t just make people shed the pounds – they can trigger effects similar to taking powerful club drugs.

The chemical effects of switching to a low-carb diet cause the release of a chemical very similar to the club drug GHB in the body – known as ‘Liquid Ecstasy’, one expert has claimed.

Professor Andrew Brown of the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW, says that your body switches to burning more fat than carbs – which releases chemicals into your bloodstream.

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Brown says that people have reported strange states of euphoria on low-carb diets since the 50s – and it might be due to a chemical called BHB, similar to GHB.

Brown says, ‘When fatty acids reach the liver they’re converted into acetoacetate, an excellent metabolic fuel that belongs to a family of chemicals called ketones. That’s why very low-carb diets are sometimes called ‘ketogenic’ diets.

‘Acetoacetate decomposes to carbon dioxide and acetone, the smelly solvent best known for its ability to remove nail polish. This is why very low-carb dieters and people who are fasting often have sweet smelling breath.

‘A healthy liver minimises the acetone lost via the lungs by converting most of the acetoacetate it produces to a more stable substance, called beta-hydroxybutyrate or BHB. And this is where those euphoric feelings could come from.

‘During ketosis, BHB can reach high levels in the brain, where it can bind to the same anxiety-reducing receptors as GHB. They bind with sufficient affinity that they may have similar effects.’
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