Does a low-carb diet increase the risk of gall stones?
Gall stones develop when the gall bladder is inactive. Once they have developed, there is a risk that contraction of the gall bladder will cause a stone to block the gall duct. This will lead to an acute gall bladder attack which can be very painful. When gall stones are diagnosed, usually by ultrasound, surgery to remove the gall bladder is generally regarded as the best way to correct the problem. The gall bladder tends to contract in response to a fatty meal. If someone has gall stones and they eat a fatty meal this could trigger an acute gall bladder attack. On a low-carb diet, most of the calories come from fat but, initially this is the fat that the person has stored. Burning off stored fat won’t trigger a gall bladder attack. Later on in a low-carb diet, when weight loss has reached a plateau, increasing dietary fat could theoretically trigger a gall bladder attack. There have been no reports of this in the literature and my colleagues who have had years of experience in guiding
