What happens if you eat a high-fat diet consisting only of beef, cheese, and butter? The fat starts to ooze from the skin.
A concerning case was recently reported at a hospital in Florida, where a 40-year-old man noticed yellowish spots on his palms, soles, and elbows after three weeks of such a diet. The case was published in JAMA Cardiology.
The man told doctors that he had adopted a carnivore diet eight months ago, which included 6 to 9 pounds of cheese, butter, and burgers daily. He claimed that this diet helped him lose weight, boosted his energy levels, and improved his mental health.
However, his cholesterol level had exceeded 1,000 mg/dL, far beyond the normal level of 200 mg/dL, with 240 mg/dL being considered high.
Cardiologists diagnosed him with xanthelasma, a condition where excess fat from the blood leaks out and accumulates on the skin. Normally, the excess fat in the blood is absorbed by defensive cells, but in xanthelasma, the amount of fat is too high for the cells to absorb, resulting in fat being expelled through the skin.
