TLDR
Eating only animal foods may help some people lose weight or feel fuller for a while, but it can leave important nutrient gaps and raise health concerns. There is not enough reliable information to say it is safe for long-term use.
Summary
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1 Study Aim
The authors aimed to map current research on the Carnivore Diet, an eating pattern based almost entirely on animal foods. They examined reported health effects, nutritional adequacy, possible harms, and unanswered questions for future research and clinical practice. The review asked what is known about the diet’s benefits, risks, and ability to provide essential nutrients.
2 Study Design
The authors conducted a scoping review, a structured mapping of existing research, using PubMed, LIVIVO, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. They followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidance. After screening titles, abstracts, and full texts, they included nine English-language human studies published from 2021 to 2025. These included case reports, case series, social-media surveys, an exploratory study, and dietary modeling studies. Most studies had small samples, short follow-up, or no comparison group. The review gathered and organized the limited available evidence about this diet.
3 Findings
The authors found reported short-term benefits, including weight loss, greater fullness, and improvements in some blood or disease measures. However, modeled diets often provided too little vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, iodine, potassium, and dietary fiber. Fiber is the part of plant foods that supports digestion and health. Some studies found higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), a blood fat linked with heart risk, and total cholesterol. The diet also removes plant compounds that may support health. Evidence quality was very low, with no reliable long-term results. The authors therefore cannot recommend long-term adherence. Eating only animal foods may bring short-term changes, but its lasting safety remains uncertain and possible harms require caution.