u/shiruken

We wish to inform the r/science community of an article submitted to the subreddit that has since been retracted by the journal. The submission garnered broad exposure on r/science and significant social media coverage. Per our rules, the flair on this submission has been updated with "RETRACTED". The submission has also been added to our wiki of retracted submissions.

Reddit Submission: Keto diet's high cholesterol may not be a factor in heart disease, suggests study which followed 100 healthy people on the keto diet for 1 year. They had elevated levels of LDL cholesterol and ApoB but no increased heart disease risk. Only those with plaques in arteries had more plaque build-up.

The article "Longitudinal Data From the KETO-CTA Study: Plaque Predicts Plaque, ApoB Does Not" has been retracted from JACC: Advances as of March 11, 2026. Numerous concerns were raised shortly after publication, including a Letter to the Editor in May 2025 that highlighted "selective reporting" of data, questionable statistical analysis, and too short a timeframe for the study. An Expression of Concern was eventually issued by the Editors in January 2026 to report that the study was undergoing further review.

The article was ultimately retracted at the request of the authors and the Editors. The methodological concerns were judged to have impacted the reliability of the data and were too great to be corrected with a corrigendum. Several authors have recently submitted a preprint reporting a re-analysis of the data that allegedly addresses the various concerns.

Retraction Watch: Widely criticized keto diet study retracted
WIRED: How One Keto Trial Set Off a New War in the Nutrition World

Should you encounter a submission on r/science that has been retracted, please notify the moderators via Modmail.

RETRACTED: Longitudinal Data From the KETO-CTA Study: Plaque Predicts Plaque, ApoB Does Not