Ketogenic diet and glucagon

[CraigDT]

Hi,

I just had a thought. If you are on a ketogenic diet, does that mean that your muscle and liver stores of glycogen are pretty much depleted? If so, would a glucagon shot have less of an effect in the case of an extreme hypo for a type 1? I know there is another thread that suggests you may be able to operate better at lower blood glucose levels while in ketosis, but I am just wondering if this is a potential side-effect of a ketogenic diet.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[tim2000s]

Hi @CraigDT, it's a bit more complicated for t1s. If you are ketogenic, it means that your body is not using glucose as energy. In theory this means that glycogen stores are depleted, however, glucose is also produced from protein and will still be converted to glycogen, and diabetics do this more than non-diabetics because of the lack of insulin which controls this process.

Coming back to the point. If you are in ketosis, you should be applying much less insulin anyway and the likelihood of an extreme hypo should be much lower. Look for Bernstein's law of small numbers for an explanation.