Exogenous Ketone

Effects of Exogenous Ketone Supplementation by Shannon Kesl, et al. Background on Ketosis: Ketosis is the state of regularly producing ketones, from using the body's fat reserves for fuel, instead of glucose. When glucose or glycogen is not available, because of diet, fasting or metabolic deficiency (like diabetes) the body will break down protein (amino acids) and (in the long term) break down fats for fuel. This fat break down releases ketones-- a carboxyl (Carbon-Oxygen) group bound to carbohydrates-- an acid. When this acid is in the blood in high amounts, a condition called ketoacidosis (often associated with type I diabetics), and can cause diabetic coma or death. Typically, ketoacidosis is the result of both high blood sugar AND high blood ketones in the range of 20 mmol/L. However, nutritional ketosis, where ketones are present in low numbers 1-8 mmol/L is a condition that has been used to treat epilepsy since the 1920s. Scientists are now researching the use of …show more content…
No group showed any significant change in total cholesterol or triglycerides for any ketone group compared to the control group. Only the group using MCT showed a decrease in HDL, no group showed any decrease in LDL. After the study, the rats were euthanized and their organs were harvested and weighed. No significant changes in size were detected except that rats that were given BMS +MCT, MCT, and BD, had slightly decreased spleen sizes and the rats that were given MCT oil has slightly larger livers. Conclusions: It is possible, given the therapeutic benefits of ketosis, and the low compliance of patients maintaining a ketogenic diet, that a formula of exogenous ketones can be derived, and given as a supplement, allowing for a state of nutritional ketosis to be entered independent of diet, with few, if any