Urine dipsticks are not accurate for detecting mild ketosis during a severely energy restricted diet.

Background: Detection of the mild ketosis induced by severely energy-restricted diets may be a clinically useful way to monitor and promote dietary adherence. Mild ketosis is often assessed using urine dipsticks, but accuracy for this purpose has not been tested.

Objective: To determine the accuracy of urine dipsticks to detect mild ketosis during adherence to a severely energy-restricted diet.