Weight loss by ketogenic diet among overweight and obese Kurds-Kurdistan region of Iraq
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v15i2.50497Keywords:
Body mass index, Cholesterol profile, Keto-diet foods, Ketosis, Obesity.Abstract
Objective: This study aims to ascertain the impact of a Ketogenic (keto) Diet (KD) on weight loss. Material and Methods: The study uses questionnaires and surveys to collect data in the Kurdistan region of Iraq between October 2024 and February 2025 and uses keto-diet stores, and in-person encounters to evaluate body mass index, obesity levels, and perceptions of the KD. Results: For the individuals' sociodemographic characteristics, frequency and percentage were employed. The consistency of weight loss, weeks of keto diet, and blood glucose and cholesterol levels for each group of men and women were calculated using an unpaired T-test (independent) with a P-value of less than 0.05 for the baseline before and after the keto diet for perception. Of the 130 participants, 48% were women and 52% were men, and they ranged in age from 10 to 69. Both sexes were heavily following the KD between the ages of 30 and 39: 34.92% of women and 35.82% of men. 35.82% of men and 38.10% of women were categorized as Class 1 and Class 2 obese, respectively, based on body mass index. In addition, ladies lost 15.3 kg in 33.1 weeks (p < 0.0001), while males lost an average of 23.7 kg in 49.2 weeks (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The utilization of the KD as a therapeutic intervention for obesity, illnesses related to nutrition, and other new treatments may be supported by these findings.
References
Abdulwahid-Kurdi, S. J. (2020). Effects of crude methanolic leaf extract of Clinacanthus nutans (Burm.f.) lindau on high-fat diet-induced obese mice. PHD thesis, Universitiy Putra Malaysia. UPM. 2020.
Ahmed, B., & Konje, J. C. (2023). The epidemiology of obesity in reproduction. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol 89, 102342.
Alharbi , A., & Al-Sowayan, S. N. (2020). The effect of ketogenic-diet on health. Food Nutr Sci; 11(4), 301-313.
Allen, B. G., Bhatia, S. K., Buatti, J. M., et al. (2013). Ketogenic diets enhance oxidative stress and radio-chemo-therapy responses in lung cancer xenografts. Clin Cancer Res; 19(14), 3905-3913.
Battezzati, A., Foppiani, A., Leone, A.,et al. (2023). Acute insulin secretory effects of a classic ketogenic meal in healthy subjects: A Randomized cross-over study. Nutrients;15(5), 1119.
Bond, S.T., Calkin, A. C., & Drew, B. G. (2021). Sex differences in white adipose tissue expansion: emerging molecular mechanisms. Clin Sci; 135 (24), 2691-708.
Çakmur, H. (2017). Obesity as a growing public health problem. Adiposity-epidemiology and treatment modalities 2017.
Callahan, E. A. (2023). National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The Science, Strengths, and Limitations of Body Mass Index. InTranslating Knowledge of Foundational Drivers of Obesity into Practice: Proceedings of a Workshop Series 2023 National Academies Press (US).
Carson, C.A., Caggiulam, A.W., Meilahn, E. N., et al. (1994). Coffee consumption: relationship to blood lipids in middle-aged women. Internatinal Journal of Epidemiology ; 23 (3), 523-527.
Costa Neto, P. L. O & Bekman, O. R. (2009). Análise estatística da decisão. Editora Blücher.
Clarke, F., & Jospe, M. (2025). What foods can you eat on the keto diet and is it healthy? Zoe. Zoe app & gut health test.
https://zoe.com/learn/what-foods-can-you-eat-on-the-keto
Dashti, H. M., Al-Zaid, N. S., Mathew, T. C., et al. (2006). Long term effects of KD in obese subjects with high cholesterol level. Mol Cell Biochem; 286, 1-9.
Dhamija, R., Eckert, S., & Wirrell, E. (2013). Ketogenic diet. Can J Neurol Sci; 40(2), 158-67.
Dhillon, K. K., & Gupta, S. (2023). Biochemistry, ketogenesis. In Statpearls [internet]. StatPearls Publishing 2023.
Falkenhain, K., Locke, S. R., Lowe, D. A., et al. (2021). Little JP. Keyto app and device versus WW app on weight loss and metabolic risk in adults with overweight or obesity: a randomized trial. Obesity; 29(10), 1606-14.
Foster, G. D., Wyatt, H. R., Hill, J. O., et al. (2003). A randomized trial of a low-carbohydrate diet for obesity. New England Journal Medicine ; 348(21), 2082-2090.
Global obesity observatory (2022). Adult http://ncdrisc.org/data-downloads adiposity.html, https://data.worldobesity.org/tables/prevalence-of-adult-overweight-obesity 2/2022.
Holland, A. M., Kephart, W. C., Mumford, P. W., et al. (2016). Effects of a ketogenic diet on adipose tissue, liver, and serum biomarkers in sedentary rats and rats that exercised via resisted voluntary wheel running. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integr Comp Physiol; 311, R337–R351.doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00156.2016.
Hruska, J., & Maresova, P. (2020). Use of social media platforms among adults in the United States—behavior on social media. Soci;10 (1), 27.
Jabekk, P. T., Moe, I. A., Meen, H. D., Tomten, S.E., & Høstmark, A.T. (2010). Resistance training in overweight women on a KD conserved lean body mass while reducing body fat. Nutrient Metabolisum; 7, 1-0.
Johnstone, A. M., Horgan, G.W., Murison, S. D., et al. (2008). Effects of a high-protein KD on hunger, appetite, and weight loss in obese men feeding ad libitum. Am J Clin Nutr; 87(1), 44-55.
Kaaks, R. (2001). Nutrition and colorectal cancer risk: The role of insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1. Paper presented at the European Conference on Nutrition and Cancer. International Agency for Research on Cancer and Europe Against Cancer Programme of the European Commission. Lyon, France, 2001.
Kosinski, C., & Jornayvaz, F. R. (2017). Effects of KD on cardiovascular risk factors: evidence from animal and human studies. Nutrients; 9(5), 517.
Kossoff EH, McGrogan JR (2025). Worldwide use of the KD Epilepsia; 46(2): 280-289.
Merovci, A., Finley, B., Hansis-Diarte, A., et al. (2024). Effect of weight-maintaining KD on glycemic control and insulin sensitivity in obese T2D subjects. BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care; 12(5), e004199.
Mohanty, P., Hamouda, W., Garg, R., et al. (2000). Glucose challenge stimulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation by leucocytes. J Clin Endocrinol Metab;85(8), 2970-2973
Murata, Y., Nishio, K., Mochiyama, T., et al. (2013). Fgf21 impairs adipocyte insulin sensitivity in mice fed a low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet. Plos One ;8(7), e69330.
Muscogiuri, G., Verde, L, Vetrani, C, et al. (2024). Obesity: a gender-view. J Endocrinol Invest; 47(2), 299-306.
Ng, M., Gakidou, E., Lo, J., Abate, Y. H.., et al. (2025). Global, regional, and national prevalence of adult overweight and obesity, 1990–2021, with forecasts to 2050: a forecasting study for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 The Lancet.
Paoli, A., Cenci, L., Pompei, P., et al. (2021). Effects of two months of very low carbohydrate KD on body composition, muscle strength, muscle area, and blood parameters in competitive natural body builders. Nutrients 13(2), 374..
Pereira, A. S. et al. (2018). Metodologia da pesquisa científica. [free ebook]. Santa Maria: Editora da UFSM
Poff, A. M., Ari, C., Seyfried, T. N., & D’Agostino, D. P. (2013). The KD and hyperbaric oxygen therapy prolong survival in mice with systemic metastatic cancer. Plos One; 8(6): e65522.
Samaha, F.F., Iqbal, N., Seshadri, P., et al. (2003). A low-carbohydrate as compared with a low-fat diet in severe obesity. N Engl J Med; 348(21), 2074-81.
Shabu, S.A. (2019) Prevalence of overweight/obesity and associated factors in adults in Erbil, Iraq: A household survey. Zanco J Med Sci 23(1), 128-134.
Sharman, M. J., Kraemer, W. J., Love, D. M., et al. (2002). KD favorably affects serum biomarkers for cardiovascular disease in normal-weight men. J Nutr; 132(7), 1879-1885.
Shitsuka, R. et al. (2014). Matemática fundamental para tecnologia. (2nd Ed.). Editora Érica.
Skogberg, N., Adam, A., Kinnunen, T., Lilja, E., & Castaneda, A. (2018). Overweight and obesity among Russian, Somali, and Kurdish origin populations in Finland. Finn Yearb Popul Res; 53, 73-88.
Solhi, M., Pirouzeh, R., & Zanjari, N. (2022). Perspectives on healthy aging in middle age: Evidence for health promotion interventions. J Educ Health Promot; 11(1), 5.
Stewart, L. (2024). What is childhood obesity and why does it matter. Child and adolescent obesity: A Practical Approach to Clinical Weight Management;16-35.
Templin, T., Cravo, T., Thomson, B., Dieleman, J., & Bendavid, E. (2019). The overweight and obesity transition from the wealthy to the poor in low-and middle-income countries: A survey of household data from 103 countries. Plos Med; 16(11), e1002968.
Toassi, R. F. C., & Petry, P. C. (2021). Metodologia científica aplicada à área da Saúde.
Vieira, S. (2021). Introdução à bioestatística. Editora GEN/Guanabara Koogan.
Wells, J. C., Marphatia, A. A, Cole, T. J., McCoy, D. ( 2012). Associations of economic and gender inequality with global obesity prevalence: understanding the female excess. Soc Sci Med ; 75(3), 482-90.
Wheless, J. W. (2008). History of the ketogenic diet. Epilepsia, 49, 3-5.
World Health Organization (2025). Obese and overweight. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight. WHO;2025.
World Obesity Federation (2022). Economic impact of overweight and obesity set to reach 3.3% of global GDP by 2060. https://www.worldobesity.org/news/economic-cost-of overweight-and-obesity-set-to-reach-3.3-of-global-gdp-by-2060.2022.
Zhou, X. D., Chen, Q. F., Yang, W., et al. (2024), Thaher O, Misra A. Burden of disease attributable to high body mass index: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. E Clinical Medicine; 76.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Samiaa J. Abdulwahid-Kurdi, Zhyan Zero Shoro, Chawerwan Hamza Ahmed, Awat Bahram

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
