Is the trendy Keto diet BAD for you? High-fat eating plan raises blood pressure

The Keto diet has been praised by countless celebrities for helping them get 'red carpet ready'. 

But the high-fat, low-carb eating plan favoured by Hollywood's resident 'health guru' Gwyneth Paltrow and Bond girl Halle Berry may raise your blood pressure after just four weeks.

Experts are now warning the dangers of the diet - which puts the body in a state of 'ketosis' so it burns fat for energy - have been 'underestimated'.  

The research was carried out by Augusta University, and led by pharmacologist and physiologist Dr Jennifer Sullivan.

Around a third of adults in the US have high blood pressure, of which two-thirds of cases can be attributed to being overweight, the authors wrote in the American Journal of Physiology, Heart and Circulatory Physiology.

And hypertension affects more than one in four people in the UK, Government statistics reveal.

Hypertension causes a gradual increase in the pressure of blood flowing through the arteries. This damages their inner lining, and can lead to blood clots that rupture and result in internal bleeding.

It also prevents oxygen-rich blood reaching vital organs, which can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and even erectile dysfunction. 

'To me [the study] really highlights the importance of understanding what you are eating,' Dr Sullivan said. 'I think we may be underestimating how bad a consistently high-fat diet is for us.'

The researchers analysed the effects of a high-fat diet on Dahl rats, which are bred to be hypersensitive to salt. 

The male rodents in particular have been shown to have significantly high blood pressure after eating a salty or fatty diet, however, until now, female Dahl rats had not been studied. 

To test whether the Keto diet has a similar effect on female rodents, the researchers fed both males and females either a normal or high-fat diet for four weeks.