This Week in Carnivore Life — May 31, 2026

A quiet week for headlines but a solid one for substance: a scoping review now on PubMed, a formal IBD trial in registration, and some honest conversation about what long-term carnivore eating actually looks like. Five items worth your time.

1. The First Peer-Reviewed Scoping Review of Carnivore Diet Evidence

A scoping review now indexed in PubMed Central surveys the clinical and observational literature on the carnivore diet. Short-term improvements in body weight and metabolic markers are documented. Long-term controlled data is thin. The review also flags unresolved questions around cardiovascular risk and nutrient adequacy. That is an honest summary of where the science is, not a verdict either way. Read it before forming strong opinions from secondary sources: full review at PMC.

The value of a scoping review is that it maps what is known and what is not. This one does that without advocacy in either direction.

2. A Registered Clinical Trial Is Now Testing the Lion Diet for IBD

A controlled trial registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT07524244) will compare ketogenic and carnivore (lion) diet protocols against standard care for inflammatory bowel disease. This is a structured study with defined endpoints, not a case series or testimonial. If you have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, check eligibility: study details at ClinicalTrials.gov.

IBD is one of the conditions where anecdotal carnivore reports are most consistent. A formal trial puts that pattern to a structured test, which is exactly what the evidence base needs.

3. 27 Years of LDL Research, with Dr. David Diamond

LDL elevation is the concern raised most often when someone starts carnivore. Dr. David Diamond, who has spent 27 years studying cardiovascular risk markers, argues the relationship between LDL and heart disease is more context-dependent than standard guidelines acknowledge, particularly on low-carbohydrate diets. Ken Berry MD walked through the data with him: watch on YouTube.

Agree or not, this is the most rigorous version of the counterargument. Worth understanding if you are managing your own numbers or fielding questions from a doctor.

4. Why Some Long-Term Carnivores Are Adding Carbs Back

Anthony Chaffee MD looks at why some people who have been carnivore for years start reintroducing carbohydrates. The video is not a concession that the diet fails; it addresses metabolic flexibility, thyroid function, and the difference between a therapeutic elimination protocol and a fixed lifestyle rule. Worth 20 minutes if you are a few years in and noticing changes: watch on YouTube.

The online carnivore community tends to treat any deviation as failure. Chaffee's framing is more useful: individual response matters, and the goal is metabolic health, not protocol purity.

5. The Elimination Argument, Articulated From Outside the Community

An immunology-focused channel published a video arguing that most restrictive diets improve symptoms not because of what they add to the diet, but because of what they finally remove. That is the same mechanism most carnivore advocates cite to explain why the diet works so well for some people. Seeing the logic stated outside the carnivore echo chamber is useful confirmation: watch on YouTube.

That is the week. The IBD trial is the most practically significant development; if it completes and shows clear results, it will matter more than any number of YouTube testimonials.