Knowledge and Perception Towards The Keto Diet Among The General Population in Baghdad City, Iraq

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Background and Aims: The ketogenic diet or keto diet (KD) is a recently used diet regime by a lot of the population for weight loss. The purpose of this study was to examine the general population’s knowledge and perceptions regarding the KETO diet in Baghdad, Iraq. Methods: This study included 203 respondents who completed an internet-based survey. A questionnaire adopted from a previous study was used to assess the knowledge and perception of the respondents. Results: Almost all the participants (98.5%) had heard of the ketogenic diet, 41.8 percent were currently following it, and 26% had tried it before. The longest time spent following the keto diet was one month (26%), and 44.3% of participants admitted to taking supplements while on the diet. Around half of the respondents (44.8%) said that the keto diet helped them lose weight and keep it off. In general, most of the participants had good knowledge of the keto diet, except for 2 parts, nutritional ketosis, and long-term studies on the keto diet effect, where the majority answered don’t know (70.9%, 43.3%) respectively. In terms of perception, around half of the respondents (42.8%) agreed that the keto diet should only be prescribed by doctors or nutritionists, while 40.0% disagreed that the keto diet is safe to follow for the long term. Conclusions: In conclusion, nowadays the ketogenic diet is a very popular weight loss diet, especially among young adults; however, more health promotion and education are required especially about long-term side effects of it.