Comparison between Ketogenic and Diabetic Conventional Diet on Wound Closure in Diabetic Rat Model

Abstract

Background: Managing diabetic ulcers should be multimodal; nutrition is one of the modalities to improve wound healing. This study therefore aimed to compare ketogenic diet and conventional diabetic diet in closing the wounds of diabetic rat models.Methods: Diabetes mellitus was induced in 30 rats which were divided equally into three groups. Group I was given a ketogenic diet (60% fat, 24% carbohydrate, and 16% protein). Group II was given a conventional diabetic diet (43% carbohydrate, 15% fat, and 42% protein). Group III was the control group with a normal diet (13% water, 18.5%–20.5% protein, fat ≥4%, fiber ≤6%, ash ≤8%, 0.9% calcium, and 0.7% phosphor). A 1 cm-diameter wound was made with the Mason-Walker model as a guideline. The rate of wound closure was measured on days 1, 7, 14, and 21 to represent each wound healing phase.Results: On day 7, comparison between wound areas in the ketogenic diet, conventional diet, and normal diet yielded significant differences (mean, 0.664, 0.717, 0.747; P=0.051). There was also a significant difference on day 14 (mean, 0.564, 0.817, 0.647; P<0.001) and day 21 (mean, 0.164, 0.517, 0.447; P<0.001).Conclusion: Compared to a conventional diabetic diet, a ketogenic diet significantly enhanced the wound closure rate in the diabetic rat model. Further studies are needed to confirm this finding.