There was a recent posting about research that indicated an increased risk of AF with low-carb diets. The research apparently had some flaws that several posters noted.
Here's an anecdote about my own experience...
I have basically been on draconian low-carb for 10 years or so. That is the same time frame during which I began to have AF and it got steadily worse. But also, in recent years I've done some bucket list trips and cruises and allowed myself to eat anything. including breads, pasta and sweets. I never got AF during these trips, but gained weight like crazy. When I returned home and tried to lose the weight I gained by going back on severe low carb, invariably got bouts of very symptomatic AF, even after an ablation In July 2018.
I am very interested to know if anyone else has had similar experience with going on and off low-carb diets. Has anyone experienced a relationship between a very low carb diet and increasing incidence of AF?
I realize that this is utterly non-scientific and anecdotal, but HU is a great place to get feedback from fellow long-term AF sufferers. AF is such a mystery that it inspires one to grope around for any rhyme or reason to it.
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Franny50
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Thanks for the link. I'm thinking any major stressor on the heart or metabolism (extreme exercise, extreme diet, extreme weight, etc.) probably contributes. I wish there was a simple answer and cure!
Extremely low carb diets (Keto especially) and/or fasting for more than 12 hours will always kick off my AF. Anything that impact on metabolism I think. I just try to eat a balanced plant based diet off a much smaller plate to lose weight!!
If I get any blood sugar drops by not eating at regular intervals ( ie losing track of time when working in the garden) I get ectopics . My hunger mechanism does not work as it used to to signal a need to eat.
To be honest I really never believe in diets. If I need to loose weight I just eat less of what I normally do. That and drastically reducing my meat ( especially red meat) 🥩 intake. This is not difficult with a veggie wife.
Many years ago I read an interesting paper on diets and how ill they can make people. I work on the WWll theory. Did you ever see a fat person in WWll or the early fifties when rationing was rife? Good wholesome home cooked food, smaller plates etc have worked well for me and since Sam gave up work it has been much easier.
Totally agree Bob and I would add to that 1) please buy more expensive grass only fed beef and 2) always eat quality and you will find you eat less as the body quickly finds the nutrients it needs and switches off the hunger messages.
Interesting to read this. As a 'serial dieter' I could almost guarantee that in the weeks after joining ( or rather re-joining 😉) a slimming club and adhering strictly to the plan with a really good weight loss,I would flip into fast AF requiring dc cardioversion.
My PAF started after one week on a medically supervised liquid fast type diet, ( and very expensive) it was 800 calories a day and 40 grams of carbs I recall. Of course the docs said no connection but I really think there was
My first attack of afib last year (after a gap of a year) was after bowel surgery . I got nothing to eat after the op except yoghurt and apple puree for 3 days and the day I came off the drip it hit. I felt like I was starving to death!
Hi,
I tend to agree with BobD's comments.
Also, once I realised that food triggered my AF (to cut a long story short) I consulted a Nutritionist. She devised a food plan/diet/whatever aimed at calming vagal nerve thence calming the heart ..... at no time did this involve specifically going low carb.
IT DID involve going gluten, wheat and oats free ............. and later/progressively going free of a range of other foods/ingredients. Loosing weight was never an objective but I have lost weight very slowly over time by increasing my exercise - luckily I have a job that is a bit physical.
I have only had one AF event since April 2015 (and that was February 2018 when sleeping on my left side). It has never returned since Feb 2018.
I used to defend oats as being gluten-free, but there are 2 facts relevant here: 1. Most oats get contaminated by gluten grain seed (wheat, barley, rye) because the farms are close or the crops grown on the same land or handled with the same harvesters, packing equipment, etc. Gluten-free oat companies like Red Hill grow their crops well away from all other grain crops, have coeliac owners and workers who would be a very sensitive indicator of contamination, plus they check all their seeds and crops for gluten contamination regularly.
2. The grain protein in oats is not the same as the gluten in wheat, barley and rye, but it is still a grain protein chemically related to gluten. It can therefore trigger the same reaction in some gluten intolerant people.
It depends on what that countries law allows in the term gluten free.
In Australia there is no gluten free cereal types in oats or barley , both are considered low gluten under our laws.
But Australian Kebari barley sold to Germany as malt for beer is classed as gluten free in Germany as its gluten content is13 parts per million which is below the European minimum to be called gluten free.( 20 parts per million )
So at a guess some European Oats are classed as gluten free even though they have this very small amount as diannetrussell says above its a slightly different protein but is still a gluten under Australian law.
I have used BarleyMax for nearly 10 years with positive results
I really don't know. In the same way nobody can really, satisfactorily explain why soft cheeses are no good for my digestive system while hard cheeses are quite OK.
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I don't think there's any lactose in hard cheese only casine but there is in soft cheese.
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Well, Scoobisu .. that's a start. Thanks, I'll do some research along those lines.
Oats aren't gluten free Wendy--- I buy gluten free oats for my porridge. I think the ordinary oats have Beta -Glucan in them. Of course the gluten free ones are more expensive, like all GF foods!!
My Nutritional plan includes oats and a limited amount of whole meal bread but excludes white potatoes, bread, biscuits, pastry & cakes. My understanding is that it more to do with the gut Biome as to whether or not you can tolerate many foods or types of foods. If you have the right gut bacteria to process the foods you won’t have a problem and if you haven’t, you will. That’s why about one third of the population can have sensitivities and as your gut directly affects your heart I would suggest that this could be the connection.
I also note that you were on holiday when you ate anything and everything - would that alone have been a factor? Carbs do help to soothe but if you are savvy about what carbs, when, how and in what quantity it shouldn’t be a problem. I find I need carbs but eating sweet potatoes instead of white, red rice or other grains such as quinoa is actually the solution. Also starch resistant carbs (potatoes which have been cooked, cooled and reheated) feed the right sort of gut bacteria so we may have them maybe once or twice a month.
Every meal should include protein, fat and carbs but the carbs should be less 10% and come mainly from green leafy veg - don’t forget that broccoli is a carb!
Much as Bob says - little of everything and don’t exclude anything.
My last two episodes of AF were in November- I attributed them to the ibruprofen I had been taking for a prolapsed disc but I was also trying to follow a low carb diet
I no longer touch either and have been AF free since
I know there will be other triggers and episodes in the future but stoping ibruprofen seems to have been really good for me
Cross fingers my afib has stayed away for 7 months now but I get the same problem with ectopics.
I've been on very low carb diet for over a year because otherwise I would be diabetic. It has not made my AF worse. I am now lighter and fitter and my AF seems if anything to be better, or less worse! I put that down to maybe the loss of fat/weight, although I have never been what you would call fat, just a bit chunky.
If I accidentally ate too much protein, which I keep fairly low, my heart would speed up.
Looking back into the past can be very misleading because certainly when I was young, our diets were quite different and also, most foods, including vegetables, fruits etc, have changed dramatically, contain much more sugar etc as they have been developed like that to get you to eat them.
The low carbs has now put me back into normal range, no longer diabetic or anywhere near it, just normal. So, I'm a great fan as it's worked for me.
I probably ate far too much protein during my long-term low carb diet. That might indeed be a factor. I've read recently that too much protein is a trigger for all sorts of bad effects.
Much conflicting information out there. Especially re: AF.
It is hard to eat a traditional human diet since everything is grown on depleted soils, and many/most grocery store foods here in U.S. have a scary amount of additives and sugar. Fortunately I do grow some of my own food without chemicals or pesticides.
I'm the opposite; since starting on daily 16:8 fasting and keto following diagnosis of T2 diabetes last year, my AF episodes have decreased in frequency and duration by a considerable amount.
Before my ablation last December I was on flecainide 100mg 2x/day and 25mg of motoprolol 2x/day. I was on those for many years. During the past 10 years I have done very restrictive low carb diets, each for several months, and have lost 40-60 pounds each time. When I would start the diet my heart would act up for a few days and then it would straighten out and beat mire steady than on a regular diet until I switched back.
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