Popular diet followed by Joe Rogan can cause painful kidney stones, experts warn — and that’s not all
We’ve all scoured the internet for weight loss secrets. But just because the scale drops doesn’t mean your body’s on board.
Just look at the carnivore diet. The eating plan — which involves consuming only animal byproducts such as meat, eggs and dairy — has taken off among fitness influencers and across the internet.
Devotees of the high protein, no-vegetable lifestyle swear it’s a game-changer for weight loss and overall health. Podcaster Joe Rogan is among the faithful, recently returning to the diet even after his first stint left him with explosive diarrhea.
But experts are sounding the alarm. Many have raised concerns about the diet’s nutritional gaps, and now doctors from the Indiana University School of Medicine are warning that the carnivore diet could also increase the risk of painful kidney stones.
These hard deposits, made up of minerals and salts, form in the kidneys due to diet, weight, and other factors. Most people can pass kidney stones naturally, though it can be incredibly painful. Depending on their size, they can block the flow of urine, leading to potentially life-threatening infections and the risk of sepsis.
In a recent case study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, doctors revealed that a 68-year-old man adopted the carnivore diet after discovering it on YouTube — only to suffer serious complications.
While he lost 24 pounds eating 90% meat products, tests conducted six months later showed his body was already forming kidney stones.
Urine analysis revealed he had an increased risk of developing all three major types of kidney stones — calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate, and uric acid — with levels “consistent with stone growth.”
A year after quitting the diet, the doctors reported that the patient was kidney stone-free.
They pointed to the patient’s results as evidence of the “potential hazards of the carnivore diet,” noting that it creates the “optimal environment” for kidney stone development.
“The lack of literature on this and other fad diets’ safety and efficacy should be a cause for alarm among physicians,” the doctors wrote. They recommended a fiber- and carbohydrate-rich diet to support gut bacteria and help prevent kidney stone formation.
The medical community remains divided on the carnivore diet.
Some doctors have raised concerns about the eating plan’s impact on cardiovascular health. Red meat, butter, and cheese are high in saturated fats, which can elevate levels of “bad” cholesterol in the blood, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
While cutting back on sugary and refined carbs is generally a good idea, fruits and vegetables are a rich source of fiber and essential nutrients that can help lower the risk of chronic diseases, manage blood pressure, aid in weight management and improve digestion.
And let’s not forget the side effects. When Rogan first tried the diet for a month in 2020, the podcasting giant said he lost weight and saw significant improvements in his energy levels and cognitive performance.
“There’s really only one ‘bad’ thing, and that thing is diarrhea,” Rogan wrote in a 2020 Instagram post. “I’ve come to accept that if I keep going with this diet it’s just a matter of time before we lose a battle, and I fill my undies like a rainforest mudslide overtaking a mountain road.”
While diarrhea might be embarrassing, one Florida man’s symptoms were downright bizarre.
After eating nothing but butter, cheese and hamburger patties for eight months, he showed up at a Tampa hospital with ooze leaking from yellowish nodes on the palms of his hands, elbows and the soles of his feet. Doctors later diagnosed him with xanthelasma, a condition caused by high cholesterol or excess fats in the blood.
Still, some experts argue the carnivore diet might benefit certain individuals. A few studies have identified positive outcomes, including a 2021 Harvard study that found “high levels of satisfaction and improvements in overall health, well-being, and various medical conditions.”
Dr. Georgia Ede, a Harvard-trained, board-certified psychiatrist specializing in nutritional and metabolic psychiatry, told Fox News she has found the carnivore diet to be an “indispensable tool” in her clinical practice.
“It’s not possible to say with scientific certainty whether this dietary pattern (or any dietary pattern, for that matter) is ideal for everyone, but my clinical and personal experience tell me that a well-formulated carnivore diet can be uniquely healing for some of us,” Ede said.
She noted that the diet could help identify food sensitivities, resolve chronic constipation and IBS symptoms, curb food addiction and binge-eating, and break weight loss plateaus.
