What is KETO flour?
Updated: Nov 16, 2021
The popularity of the ketogenic diet has flooded the market with several ketogenic products. While some claim to induce ketosis, others claim to help support ketosis. As a result, it often becomes confusing which products and brands are worth buying. On the one hand, brands use misleading terms, and on the other hand, brands lie. The term keto-friendly is used haphazardly to sell products high in carbs and products that have hidden sugar. One alleged keto-friendly product is called the Keto Flour. This article helps understand Keto Flour and its fat content and concludes if it is scientifically keto-friendly or just a marketing gimmick.
What is Keto Flour?
Most keto flour manufacturers simple replace about 25% of wheat flour with wheat protein isolate, pea protein isolate or flax protein isolate. Wheat protein isolate, pea protein isolate, and flax protein isolate are not keto-friendly and are second-class, inferior proteins. The rest, 75%, is wheat flour and additives. Wheat is not ketogenic and has a high potential to spike insulin levels. Replacing wheat flour with wheat protein/ pea protein/ flax protein may reduce the carbohydrate content and increase the second-class protein content. Although the carbohydrate content reduces, it does not make the keto flour a ketogenic product. Some brands may use misleading terms like low-carb, low sugar, no sugar, diabetic-friendly, high-fibre, keto, keto-friendly etc., to give the impression that their product is keto-friendly.
Is Keto Flour HIGH in Fat?
In a ketogenic diet, both fat and protein play a vital role. Hence, a ketogenic product should have both these macronutrients. At least 50% of calories should come from fat alone, and less than 10% of calories (the lesser, the better) should come from carbohydrates. Also, the type of fat should be saturated fat and not polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), which is highly inflammatory. Most brands will load PUFA to the so-called keto products to lower the costs and claim the product to be high in fat. The product may be high fat but, what type of fat is the bigger question. Such a claim is misleading, as it does not give any idea of the type of fat. In general, it is best to avoid products that do not disclose the type of fat.
A high carbohydrate product with second-class protein and low saturated fat cannot be called keto-friendly. It has the full potential to throw us out of ketosis.
Key takeaways:
Most keto flours are like ordinary wheat flour and are not keto-friendly.
It is essential to check the type of fat (should be saturated fat), the number of calories coming from fat (should be at least 50%) and the number of calories coming from carbohydrates (should be less than 10%) for a product to be keto-friendly.
Whatever the claim is, basis the ingredients list and the nutrition profile, we can decide if the product is keto-friendly or not.
We hope the article helped us understand that keto flour is just a marketing gimmick and scientifically not keto-friendly.
Note: When this article was written, almost all manufacturers of keto flour were selling ordinary grain flours mixed with a second-class protein source.
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