The long and short of it is this:
Myth: Babies are in ketosis and eat keto throughout infancy, until they transition to a solid-food diet.
Fact: Babes are NOT in ketosis and are not eating keto during infancy if they are consuming breastmilk or standard infant formula. The only time that babies are maintained in ketosis is during a medically-supervised ketogenic feeding intervention, with special, prescription formula.
The first time I ran into this myth, I brushed it off as a one-off misunderstanding. The person who said it was
literally in a bar, talking with friends about his ketogenic diet, and said something along the lines of, “I mean, we eat ketogenic from the time we’re born until we are toddlers….”
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As you can see in the infographic above, infants who consume breastmilk or formula are definitely not in ketosis. In the pediatric ketogenic diet, carbohydrates cannot provide more than approximately 5% of total calories. Breastmilk and standard infant formulas provide anywhere from 42-48% of total calories. Ketogenic diets require at least 75% of calories from fat, while breastmilk and standard formulas provide only 44-49% calories from fat.
Reference List:
Akers S, Groh-Wargo S. Infant nutrition. In Seymour PQ, King L, eds.
Essentials of Pediatric Nutrition. Burlington, MA : Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2013 : 55-70.
Barbas KH, Fulhan, J. Breastfeeding and human milk. In Sonneville K, Duggan, C, ed.
Manual of Pediatric Nutrition. Shelton, CT : People’s Medical Publishing House – USA; 2014 : 64-80.
Cloud HH. Developmental disabilities. In Seymour PQ, King L, eds.
Essentials of Pediatric Nutrition. Burlington, MA : Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2013 : 139-151.
Fenton C, Randall R, Groveman SA, Chee CM, Bergqvist AGC. Use of expressed breast milk with the ketogenic diet.
ICAN. 2015; 7 (6) : 342-346.
Green-Corkins K, Sentongo T. Infant formulas and complementary feeding. In Corkins MR, ed.
The A.S.P.E.N. Pediatric Nutrition Support Core Curriculum. Silver Spring, MD : American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition; 2010 : 129-142.
Hartman AM, Stanley BN. Therapeutic pediatric ketogenic diets. Personal interview. October 2017.