Mikhaila Peterson and other carnivore advocates are pushing back on talk that the diet is fading, but the research pipeline is telling a different story. Ketogenic science keeps widening into new clinical territory, while carnivore is still trying to secure a basic evidence base.
The strongest signal comes from the keto side. A 2021 review in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy said ketogenic diets had “garnered research attention rapidly in the past decade” and noted potential uses beyond epilepsy, including obesity and malignancies. That long-standing epilepsy role still matters because ketogenic therapy remains one of the best-established non-pharmacological treatments for drug-resistant seizures, and newer variants such as modified Atkins and low-glycemic-index plans have kept the field active.
The expansion is no longer limited to seizure clinics and weight-loss talk. A 2025 randomized clinical trial tested a ketogenic diet in treatment-resistant depression, showing keto is now being studied in psychiatry as well as metabolic disease. In type 2 diabetes, a 2024 meta-analysis of very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets found better cardiovascular risk factors and a higher HDL level, but no significant between-group differences in LDL or total cholesterol. That mix of gains and unanswered questions is exactly why the heart-risk debate refuses to die.
A 2024 state-of-the-art review on ketogenic diet and cardiovascular risk called the topic controversial, and that is the right word for it. The upside is familiar in keto circles: lower triglycerides, lower blood pressure, weight loss and better glycemic control. The downside is the persistent concern over total cholesterol and LDL, the numbers that keep cardiologists wary when people push keto as a blanket solution. The American College of Cardiology highlighted a 2023 study suggesting a keto-like diet may be linked to higher LDL and about a twofold higher risk of cardiovascular events, while Harvard Health has warned that short-term wins can fade and that keto diets appear to lower triglycerides but raise LDL cholesterol.
Carnivore, by comparison, is still living in a much thinner literature. A 2025 scoping review found only nine human studies and said the diet lacks a standardized definition, even as it has surged on social media. Another 2025 paper that assessed nutrient composition against Australian and New Zealand nutrient reference values said carnivore needs careful scrutiny for nutrient adequacy, even though participants reported few adverse effects and high satisfaction. That is the real split in this debate: keto keeps producing clinical trials, meta-analyses and disease-specific reviews, while carnivore is still working its way from online momentum toward something the literature can actually measure.
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