You're the one who's confused.
Miller-Keane Medical Dictionary, 2000 (ke-to´sis) accumulation in the blood and tissues of large quantities of the "ketone bodies" KETONE BODIES: beta-hydroxybutyric acid, acetoacetic acid, and acetone. Because the first two are acids, this results in metabolic "acidosis" ACIDOSIS. Thus, the condition is often referred to as ketoacidosis. adj., ketot´ic. When fatty acids are metabolized in the liver, an intermediate, acetylcoenzyme A (acetyl CoA), is produced. Normally, acetyl CoA is condensed with oxaloacetic acid, a product of carbohydrate metabolism, to form citric acid. This then enters the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the final common pathway of cellular energy metabolism. When oxaloacetate is not present, acetyl CoA is converted by another pathway to ketone bodies. These compounds cannot be metabolized by the liver and are released into the blood stream. Other tissues, including muscle, brain, heart, and kidneys, can convert ketone bodies back to acetyl CoA and metabolize them as an energy source. In acute starvation or in uncontrolled "diabetes mellitus" DIABETES MELLITUS, there is a great increase in fatty acid metabolism and impaired or absent carbohydrate metabolism, which results in a greatly increased production of ketone bodies. This can also occur when the diet is composed almost entirely of fat. The production of ketone bodies is reduced to the normal low level and the ketoacidosis is reversed when adequate carbohydrate metabolism is restored. The patient with ketosis often has a sweet or "fruity" odor to his breath. This is produced by acetone, a ketone body that is highly volatile and is blown off in small amounts with air expired from the lungKetosis is simply a state where one's body is buring fat instead of glucose.
Any real doctor can tell you that ketosis is an abnormal metabolic production of ketones, and that "Benign Dietary Ketosis" exists only in the deluded minds of Atkins dieters.
Effect of 6 Month Adherence to a Very Low Carbohydrate Diet Program
A team of researchers at Duke University Medical Center has conducted an ongoing weight-loss study that entailed monitoring 50 subjects who were following the Atkins Nutritional Approach (TM). The individuals were monitored throughout the initial six-month period, with data that included results of laboratory tests, weight/waist measurements, diet composition, symptoms and side effects. The results, published in the peer-review American Journal of Medicine, suggest that the ANA is not only effective in weight loss and management, but manifests significant improvement in a number of cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Key points:
The overweight or obese healthy volunteers who wanted to lose weight were placed on a very low-carbohydrate diet (less than 25g/day of carbohydrates), including nutritional supplementation, recommendations about exercise, and attendance at group meetings to determine the effect of a very low-carbohydrate diet program with no limit on caloric intake.
Forty-one individuals or 80 percent followed the nutrition regimen for the duration of the study.
The regimen led to sustained weight loss during the six-month period. Body weight decreased significantly by 10.3 percent (or an average of almost 20 pounds) from the beginning to the end of the study. Body mass index decreased by 3.2 kg/m2. Average percentage of body fat significantly decreased by 2.9 percent. Total cholesterol level decreased by 11mg/dL; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level decreased significantly by 10 mg/dL; triglyceride level decreased with a high level of significance by 56 mg/dL; high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level increased significantly by 10 mg/dL; and the cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio was also significantly decreased by 0.9 units. There were no serious adverse effects. Further controlled research is warranted.
In addition to the ongoing weight-loss study, Duke researchers also performed a two-armed, randomized controlled trial to study 120 obese hyperlipidemic adults. The study compared the controlled carbohydrate Atkins Nutritional ApproachTM to the American Heart Association (AHA) Step I diet advocated by many health professionals for cardiovascular health. In each arm of the study, 60 subjects were monitored for clinical values, side effects, body composition and bone-mineral density. Food records provided measures of caloric intake as well as carbohydrate, protein and fat intake. This comparative study demonstrated that subjects on a controlled carbohydrate eating program lost both more weight and more body fat than subjects following a low-fat diet. In addition, those subjects controlling their carbohydrate intake showed a decrease in triglycerides and total cholesterol as well as an increase in HDL (“good”)cholesterol levels. The full results of this research, including some groundbreaking data regarding our expanding knowledge on the role of cholesterol in heart disease, has been submitted for publication in scientific journals.