Why the study?
Do liquid protein diets cause serious arrhythmias like Torsade de Pointes in obese patients?
Do liquid protein diets cause serious arrhythmias like Torsade de Pointes in obese patients?
Liquid protein diets for weight reduction can cause reversible QUc prolongation leading to life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias.
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May warrant arrhythmia caution with liquid protein diets; leaves open need for prospective trials to confirm causality.
Three women, aged 27, 33, and 35 years, experienced recurrent syncope five months after losing 36 to 41 kg using liquid protein diets. No abnormalities were noted during physical examination except in one who was hypothyroid. Serum potassium levels varied between 2.9 and 3.9 mEq /liter. The ECGs demonstrated prominent U waves, QUcprolongation, and ST and T wave abnormalities, with left axis deviation in two patients. Syncopal episodes were due to ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation, which were not responsive to conventional antiarrhythmic agents used in two patients. Patients using liquid protein diets may thus experience reversible QUcprolongation giving rise to serious arrhythmias that are probably best treated with drugs that shorten the QTcinterval. Caution should be exercised in the use of liquid protein diets for weight reduction in obesity. (JAMA240:115-119, 1978)
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Bramah N. Singh (1978) studied this question.
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