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Ketogenic Diet Outperforms Other Plans for Reversing Prediabetes and Fatty Liver, New Study Finds

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2 hours ago

30 August 2026

Ketogenic Diet Outperforms Other Plans for Reversing Prediabetes and Fatty

A new randomized clinical trial from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that a ketogenic diet outperformed two other widely recommended eating plans at reversing prediabetes and reducing fat buildup in the liver, even when all three diets produced identical amounts of weight loss.

The study, published Aug. 27 in the journal Cell Metabolism, compared a low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet against a high-carbohydrate, low-fat, plant-forward diet and a Mediterranean diet that balanced the two approaches. Researchers randomly assigned 55 adults with what they described as metabolically unhealthy obesity, meaning obesity accompanied by prediabetes and fatty liver disease, to follow one of the three diets for approximately five months. Participants received all of their food throughout the study and met weekly with a study dietitian to support adherence to their assigned plan.

Across all three diet groups, participants lost a comparable amount of weight, shedding roughly 10% of their starting body weight, and saw insulin sensitivity in their muscle cells improve by about 50% from baseline. According to the study’s senior author, Dr. Samuel Klein, the Danforth Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Science at WashU Medicine, that consistency suggests weight loss itself, rather than the specific balance of fat and carbohydrates used to achieve it, was the key driver behind the improvement in muscle insulin sensitivity. “For patients with obesity, prediabetes and fatty liver disease, weight loss induced by a very low-carbohydrate diet provides additional therapeutic effects on glucose and lipid metabolism that should further help prevent the progression to more severe metabolic diseases than weight loss alone,” Klein said. “But all three diets, despite vastly different macronutrient makeups, from very low carbohydrates to very high carbohydrates, successfully improved metabolic health through weight loss alone.”

The results diverged sharply, however, when it came to liver health. The research team found that insulin sensitivity in liver cells, which governs how effectively the liver suppresses glucose production, improved two to three times more among participants on the ketogenic diet compared with those on the other two plans, even though all three groups showed some improvement. The ketogenic diet also reduced fat stored inside the liver by 67% after five months, compared with a 45% reduction on the other two diets.

Study first author Dr. Max C. Petersen, an assistant professor of medicine in WashU Medicine’s John T. Milliken Department of Medicine, said the findings carry significant implications given how widespread fatty liver disease has become. “Fatty liver disease affects about 75% of adults with obesity worldwide and has become the fastest-growing cause of chronic liver disease and liver cirrhosis,” Petersen said. “Our study shows that for people with obesity and fatty liver disease, a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet could help reduce that statistic.”

Blood sugar control also improved more substantially among participants following the ketogenic diet. Researchers measured a 20% reduction in 24-hour blood glucose levels from baseline among the low-carbohydrate group, compared with an 8% reduction among participants on the other two diets. Insulin levels throughout the day fell by 74% on the ketogenic diet, compared with declines of 44% on the Mediterranean diet and 27% on the high-carbohydrate diet, a pattern the researchers said reflects reduced demand on the pancreas to produce insulin when carbohydrate intake is sharply limited.

The difference in outcomes was most striking when it came to reversing prediabetes entirely. Half of the participants assigned to the low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet reversed their prediabetes by the end of the study, compared with 29% of those on the Mediterranean diet and just 7% of those on the high-carbohydrate, plant-forward diet.

Petersen noted that the findings remain relevant even as GLP-1 medications, a class of drugs that includes semaglutide and other treatments widely used for weight loss, have become an increasingly common tool for managing obesity and its associated health risks. “Many metabolically unhealthy patients also are candidates for GLP-1 medicines, which have been very useful tools for helping people lose weight,” Petersen said. “But our results show that choice of diet remains important because it has an impact on specific health outcomes that go beyond weight loss alone.”

Obesity affects roughly four in 10 Americans, according to the study, and frequently coexists with metabolic complications including insulin resistance, prediabetes and fatty liver buildup, conditions that can progress over time to Type 2 diabetes, chronic liver disease and cardiovascular events if left untreated. While weight loss has long been established as the most effective overall strategy for reducing these risks, researchers said it has remained unclear until now which specific dietary approach, in terms of its balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates, produces the greatest improvement in underlying metabolic health markers beyond weight loss alone.

The research team, which also included Dr. Gordon I. Smith, an associate professor of medicine at WashU Medicine, said future studies will examine the underlying biological mechanisms responsible for the metabolic benefits observed with weight loss, including how those mechanisms may interact with the growing use of GLP-1 medications in clinical practice. As with any nutrition research involving significant dietary changes, individuals considering major shifts to their eating patterns, particularly those managing existing health conditions, are generally advised to consult a physician or registered dietitian before beginning a new diet plan.

Business

Midterms, September Volatility And The Value Trade

Published

25 seconds ago

30 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Hanging On To The Teradata Rollercoaster

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Perpetua Stock: Strong Governmental Market Support Indicate Future Upside (NASDAQ:PPTA)

Hello, my name is Daniel Bell, and I have been investing my personal accounts since college. I remember my first big “play”; it was with only $2,000, but this was right after the COVID lockdown hit and the market tanked. I used the Robinhood account I had to search out companies according to three parameters that I thought made sense: 1. Had the largest dips after lockdown, 2. Were growing beforehand, and 3. Had high caps. This way, I was able to find several well-run companies that had been very highly affected by the lockdown, but were unlikely to go completely bust before recovering. I was able to make about $1,000, or 50%, in just about 6 months. This is what really got me into value investing. Ever since, I have been an active investor. I have lived in Texas for nearly five years now, and in my personal financial life, I have begun looking into opportunities in medium-scale investing in Central African countries, chiefly Rwanda, but also Burundi, Kenya, the DRC, etc. Aside from this, I am excited to contribute to the Seeking Alpha community!

Business

Jury in Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial Ends the Week Without a Verdict After Asking to See Key Evidence

Published

40 minutes ago

30 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Lindsay Clancy Trial Cut Short as Judge Cites 'Unforeseen Circumstance,'

Mass. — Jurors in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children in 2023, ended their second day of deliberations Friday without reaching a verdict and will return Monday morning to continue weighing the case.

The 12-person jury, made up of nine women and three men, has now deliberated for roughly 10 hours over two days, spending about three and a half hours Thursday and roughly six and a half to seven hours Friday, according to the Boston Globe and CNN. Judge William F. Sullivan told jurors, “It’s been a long day for everybody,” before sending them home for the weekend, with deliberations set to resume Monday at 9 a.m.

Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months. Sullivan has instructed the jury that it may return verdicts of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter on each of three separate verdict slips, one for each child. Both the prosecution and the defense agree Clancy strangled her children with exercise resistance bands and then attempted suicide at the family’s home in Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023. The central question for jurors is not what happened, but whether Clancy was “criminally responsible” for her actions, a legal standard requiring that she understood the wrongfulness of what she was doing and was able to control her behavior in accordance with the law.

Prosecutors called more than 70 witnesses over five weeks of testimony, arguing Clancy “acted intentionally, rationally and swiftly” when she killed her children and that she retained the ability to distinguish right from wrong. In her closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague told jurors, “I’m not saying she was happy about it. I’m saying, it was what she had to do to end her misery. But it was a choice. It was a choice.” Prosecutors pointed to evidence that Clancy sent her husband out to run errands before the killings and that she asked for an attorney upon waking in the hospital, arguing those actions reflected calculated, rational behavior rather than a break from reality.

Clancy’s defense, which called 10 witnesses, argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible for her actions. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington told jurors in closing arguments that Clancy’s collapse came “because of the damn medicine and the lousy medical care that she got,” pointing to the more than a dozen psychiatric medications she had been prescribed in the months before the killings to treat depression, anxiety, insomnia and suicidal thoughts. Clancy did not testify during the trial. She remains partially paralyzed as a result of her suicide attempt and has been held at a state hospital in Tewksbury since 2023.

Testimony from Clancy’s former husband, Patrick Clancy, traced her mental health decline back to September 2022, as she prepared to return to work following parental leave. “She just had a really hard time being separated from them,” he testified, according to CNN. Her condition worsened in the following months, particularly after she began taking the antidepressant Zoloft in October 2022, and she checked herself into a hospital twice, once in December and again over the New Year’s holiday. Clancy wrote in a note on her phone at the time, “Medication stole my motherhood and my life,” Patrick Clancy testified. Doctors who treated her before the killings said she did not display a suicide plan, thoughts of harming others or signs of psychosis, and her psychiatrist testified that Clancy told her the day before the killings that she was “doing all right.”

Competing psychiatric experts offered sharply different assessments of Clancy’s mental state at the time of the killings. Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist who testified for the defense, said Clancy was “frankly psychotic” during the killings and described an auditory hallucination she reported experiencing. “Not only did she hear a command, but she felt that her body was taken over by an external force where she was in a dream state and did not have control of her own body,” Resnick testified. “It was almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings.” Dr. Kirk Heilbrun, a psychologist who testified for the prosecution, disagreed, saying Clancy understood right from wrong and was in control of her actions, while expressing skepticism that she had ever reported hearing a voice before or after the killings. Both experts agreed, however, that Clancy’s actions were rooted in a distorted sense of love and protection toward her children rather than malice.

During deliberations Friday, jurors asked to review physical evidence including Clancy’s prescription pill bottles and the knife she used during her suicide attempt, according to Reddington. Sullivan did not publicly disclose the jury’s specific question, discussing it instead with attorneys during a private sidebar conference.

The trial has drawn national attention to questions surrounding maternal mental health, and supporters wearing pink gathered outside the courthouse in Plymouth last week in a show of solidarity with Clancy. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict, Sullivan could declare a mistrial. If convicted of murder, Clancy faces a sentence of life in prison. If jurors find her not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, prosecutors have said they may petition the court to have her committed to a psychiatric facility rather than released.

This case involves serious mental health and suicide-related content covered here for its factual, legal significance; readers who may be personally affected by similar issues are encouraged to seek support, including from a mental health professional or a crisis helpline.

Business

CEF Weekly Review: Allspring CEF Distributions Inline With MDPs

Published

47 minutes ago

30 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Whale's Insight: A Macro-Driven Market With No Safe Haven, And No End To Volatility

ADS Analytics is a team of analysts with experience in research and trading departments at several industry-leading global investment banks. They focus on generating income ideas from a range of security types including: CEFs, ETFs and mutual funds, BDCs as well as individual preferred stocks and baby bonds.ADS Analytics runs the investing group Systematic Income which features 3 different portfolios for a range of yield targets as well interactive tools for investors, daily updates and a vibrant community.

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of FSCO either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Business

Reduction of US-China Rivalry Essential for South-east Asia, Says ASEAN Leader

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1 hour ago

30 August 2026

NewsAdmin

Reduction of US-China Rivalry Essential for South-east Asia, Says ASEAN Leader

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn stressed at the Shangri-La Dialogue that US-China tension-easing efforts are vital for South-east Asia. He urged the “constructive strategic stability” framework to translate into regional peace, while emphasizing ASEAN’s commitment to avoiding coercion and choosing sides.

Key Points

• ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn emphasized at the Shangri-La Dialogue that US-China efforts toward “constructive strategic stability” are vital for South-east Asia, as both superpowers are the region’s most consequential security and economic partners, following tensions sparked by sweeping tariffs and trade disputes since early 2025.

• Panellists highlighted pressure on smaller nations, with Lithuania and New Zealand drawing parallels between geopolitical coercion in Europe and Asia, stressing the importance of upholding international rules and collective regional cooperation.

• Dr Kao addressed rising defence spending concerns and Myanmar’s crisis, supporting recalibrated ASEAN engagement including virtual talks with Myanmar’s foreign minister, while maintaining the Five-Point Consensus peace plan remains active.

US-China Relations and ASEAN’s Strategic Priorities

The easing of tensions between the United States and China represents a critical development for South-east Asia, according to ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30. Dr Kao emphasized that both superpowers are ASEAN’s most consequential security and economic partners, making their relationship of direct regional importance. The newly introduced framework of “constructive strategic stability” — built on the idea that competition and cooperation can coexist — emerged following meetings between President Trump and President Xi in May, offering cautious optimism for regional peace and development.

Trade War Tensions and the Path Toward Normalization

Sino-American relations deteriorated sharply after Trump’s return to office, with sweeping tariffs reaching 145 per cent, triggering Chinese retaliatory measures including export controls and restrictions on rare earths and critical minerals. A partial breakthrough in October 2025 saw tariff reductions and resumed trade flows, though full normalization only followed the May Trump-Xi summit. Dr Kao stressed that ASEAN nations must be able to pursue security and prosperity without coercion or being forced to choose sides, underscoring the bloc’s firm commitment to strategic independence amid intensifying great-power rivalry.

Geopolitical Pressure, Defense Spending, and the Myanmar Crisis

Smaller nations facing geopolitical pressure was a recurring theme at the plenary session, with Lithuania’s Defense Minister drawing parallels between European and Asian coercion tactics, and New Zealand’s Defense Minister advocating collective regional strength. On rising defense expenditure, Dr Kao cautioned that diverting resources toward military spending is “not very healthy,” reaffirming ASEAN’s preference for preventive diplomacy. Regarding Myanmar, Dr Kao signaled a recalibration of engagement, with ASEAN foreign ministers agreeing to a virtual meeting with Myanmar’s counterpart — a notable shift — while reaffirming the Five-Point Consensus peace plan remains the guiding framework.

Source : Easing of US-China tensions crucial for South-east Asia: ASEAN chief