keto diet popularity
Kim Kardashian (extreme left) and Rihanna (extreme right) have given us some major body goals over the year; so naturally, when it was revealed that their secret key to maintaining that figure was the Keto diet (middle), a lot of people went crazy trying to experiment their progress with the regime.Getty Images | Instagram/beachsidekitchen

Kim Kardashian and Rihanna have given us some major body goals over the year; so naturally, when it was revealed that their secret key to maintaining that figure was the Keto diet, a lot of people went crazy trying to experiment their progress with the regime.

But what is it that makes the diet so awesome? Does it really burn fat ten times faster than any other diet and that too without any exercise? Science has answered in the affirmative, and that explains while a bunch of celebrities are so obsessed with it.

But how exactly does this diet achieve that goal?

Also read: The top celebrity diets to be avoided; Including the KETO!

A group of researchers decided to study people with type 2 diabetes, or even were at the risk of developing it. And for results, they found that those who followed the low-carb plan from the diet saw the most health benefits than those on a typical regular diet.

And this was without any extra, significant physical activity involved!

The study was conducted by the researchers from Bethel University in Minnesota, and on 30 people between the ages of 18 and 65. These people had previously been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, or type 2 diabetes.

These people – all with a BMI over 25 and body fat over 30 percentage were classified into three groups in random order and put on separate regimes, for ten weeks.

The first group was on a diet of less than 30 grams of carbohydrates per day and did not exercise. The second followed a normal diet and also did not exercise. The third ate their normal diet too, along with exercising for three to five days a week, 30 minutes per session.

After ten weeks, the results show that while exercise served as an added bonus, the health benefits observed were maximum in case of the people following keto.

The authors wrote: "All variables for the ketogenic group out-performed those of the exercise and non-exercise groups, with five of the seven demonstrating statistical significance," as was published in the journal Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome.

Ever since it went viral, the Keto – short for Ketogenic diet has drawn a lot of controversy regarding how healthy it is. Despite studies showing its somewhat harmful side, the fans of the diet are attracted to how its puts the body into an 'optimal' fat burning state.

This diet is relatively high in fat and allows moderate protein – the idea behind it being that the body starts burning fat stores for energy, instead of the regular glucose from carbs, because of how low the carb intake is.

And as the research suggested, people following it saw significant loss in body weight, body fat percentage, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar levels and ketones which break down fat.

Along with that, the resting metabolic rate – the rate at which your body burns energy when it is supposed to be at a complete rest – which also happens more than ten times than those who ate a standard diet.