ArticleNutrients2025
Very Low Energy Ketogenic Therapy (VLEKT), Not Only a Price Matter: A Comparison Study on Average Costs of VLEKT with Fresh Foods and Replacement Meals.
Article in Nutrients, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- A price check on the ketogenic diet for adults with epilepsy in Australia.Epilepsia open · 2026Article
- Personalizing Obesity Treatment: Real-World Comparison of a Very-Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet Versus a Whole-Food Mediterranean Ketogenic Diet.Metabolites · 2026Article
- Personalized Medical Nutrition Therapy and Physical Exercise: The Future of Diabesity Care.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Time Exposure and Fat Mass Reduction Drive Trimethylamine N-Oxide Modulation During a Very-Low-Energy Ketogenic Therapy (VLEKT) in Women with Obesity.Metabolites · 2026Article
- Very low-calorie ketogenic diet and liraglutide as a synergistic strategy for the treatment of obesity: A short-term, non-randomised, observational, real-world clinical evaluation.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2025Article
- Advancing Obesity Management: the Very Low-Energy Ketogenic therapy (VLEKT) as an Evolution of the "Traditional" Ketogenic Diet.Current obesity reports · 2025Review
- Effects of Brown Rice, Meal Replacements, and Anti-Obesity Drugs on Mitochondria in Obese Rats.Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundObesity is constantly growing worldwide, representing a serious concern also for healthcare costs. Current anti-obesity pharmacological strategies, although effective, represent a significant cost for the patient. Similarly, very low energy ketogenic therapy (VLEKT) protocols with replacement meals also have high costs.
objectivesThe objective of this study was to estimate the average costs of a VLEKT protocol with replacement meals compared with those of isocaloric diets with fresh foods.
methodsVLEKTs with replacement meals and fresh foods were developed considering an ideal young woman and man with grade II obesity (BMI ≥ 35.0 kg/m
resultsOn a monthly basis, VLEKT with fresh food had an average cost of EUR 253.44 and EUR 295.67, while VLEKT with replacement meals had an average cost of EUR 434.91 and EUR 535.99, for the woman and man, respectively.
conclusionsAlthough more expensive than a common diet, VLEKT should be seen not only as a dietary method for losing weight, but as a non-pharmacological, medicalized nutritional therapy, useful for managing various conditions, even those not directly related to obesity. Like a drug therapy, VLEKT requires the use of specific products that entail a higher cost, to be borne by the patient, but whose benefits should be emphasized, which go beyond weight loss and concern general health, thus considering them as a targeted nutritional strategy.
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