Keto Cut Liver Fat 67% vs 45% for Other Diets
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- Ketogenic diet reduced liver fat by an average of 67% in a randomized trial of 42 people with obesity, prediabetes, and fatty liver disease, compared with a 45% reduction for both the Mediterranean and low-fat, plant-forward groups after four to five months.
- Samuel Klein and colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine, publishing August 27, 2026 in Cell Metabolism, matched weight loss at roughly 10% of body weight across all three groups by adjusting calorie intake to isolate diet composition as the variable.
- Keto participants no longer met prediabetes criteria at about 50% by study end — roughly double the Mediterranean group's 29% and seven times the plant-forward group's 7%.
- Max Petersen, the study's first author, said keto participants had the largest rise in glucagon and the greatest decline in blood insulin levels, yet did not see an increase in blood fat or cholesterol despite consuming 73% of calories from fat.
- GLP-1 medications have revolutionized obesity pharmacotherapy, but Petersen said the trial shows "the specific composition of the diet can give you added benefits" beyond what weight loss from those drugs achieves.
Why it matters: For the roughly 40% of US adults with obesity, the trial suggests diet composition — not just weight loss — drives metabolic recovery: keto recipients shed liver fat at 1.5 times the rate of Mediterranean or low-fat dieters (67% vs. 45%) with no rise in blood fat or cholesterol. Researchers framed the result as offering benefits 'beyond just weight loss alone,' potentially complementing GLP-1 medications.
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