This New Energy Drink Promises To Turn You Into A Superhuman
San Francisco-based start-up HVMN (pronounced “human”) has developed a drink made of pure ketone ester – a supplement that some scientists are calling the fourth type of fuel, alongside carbs, fat and protein. Ketone is a shot-sized bottle of clear liquid that contains 120 calories. HVMN promises the drink will improve your energy and focus. “It’s not a fat, it’s not a protein, it’s not a carb, but your body gets fuel from it,” Geoff Woo, the company’s co-founder and CEO told Business Insider. The human body releases chemicals called ketones when it runs out of carbohydrates for energy and is forced to tap into fat reserves. This is the basis of the ketogenic diet, which relies on high-fat, no-carb meals. Essentially, cutting carbs from our diets releases ketones that turn our bodies into a fat-melting machine. But the ketogenic diet is hard to sustain since it’s extremely difficult to completely cut out carbs. Enter Ketone, which lets you directly ingest the ketones without tricking your body into starvation-mode. The fuel is “unlike anything we’ve ever seen before,” Kieran Clarke, a professor of physiological biochemistry at Oxford University, who studies ketones and has been working in partnership with HVMN, told Business Insider. When Ketone was given to a group of elite cyclists – some of whom were former Olympians — they traveled an average of 400 meters further than cyclists who’d been given a carb-rich or fat-rich energy drink. Those findings were published by Clarke and her colleagues in Cell Metabolism in July 2016. However a more recent study found that, after giving a ketones-based drink to 11 elite cyclists in Australia, the athletes performed worse, had slower times and all reported upset stomachs. One couldn’t even start Continue reading >>
A Startup Has Created A Performance-enhancing Bottled 'superfuel' — Here's What It's Like To Drink
HVMN Ketones could supercharge the body in a way unlike any other fuel source. HVMN, a startup based in San Francisco, is bringing to market a drink made of pure ketone ester that it says has performance-boosting qualities. We tried the drink before its public launch. HVMN, a startup building "human enhancement" technologies out of San Francisco, recently revealed that it is bringing one of the first commercial ketone esters to market. HVMN Ketone is an FDA-reviewed drink that claims to improve athletic ability, focus, and energy. The drink contains 120 calories, but it has no fat, protein, or carbohydrates. Those calories instead come from ketones — molecules formed by the breakdown of fat. Geoff Woo, cofounder and CEO of HVMN (pronounced "human"), likes to call ketones "the fourth macronutrient." "It's not a fat, it's not a protein, it's not a carb, but your body gets fuel from it," Woo told Business Insider. To make the product, HVMN leveraged more than a decade and $60 million worth of scientific research through an exclusive partnership with the University of Oxford. Brianna Stubbs, lead researcher at HVMN, joined a study on the effects of ketone esters in competitive rowers while a student-athlete at Oxford. The experienced inspired her to change her course of study from medicine to physiology. Stubbs remembered how the ketone ester made her feel during practice rowing sessions: "When you take it, you get to the red line and feel like you can go further. It's as you get to the end, when normally you'd run out of energy, it's as if you have this extra gear at the end." Stubbs holds a PhD around the science of ketones and two gold medals from the 2013 and 2016 World Rowing Championships. She resigned from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to join HVMN. HVMN Ketone is availa Continue reading >>
My Experience With Exogenous Ketones
Last year I wrote a couple of posts on the nuances and complexities of ketosis, with an emphasis on nutritional ketosis (but some discussion of other states of ketosis—starvation ketosis and diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA). To understand this post, you’ll want to at least be familiar with the ideas in those posts, which can be found here and here. In the second of these posts I discuss the Delta G implications of the body using ketones (specifically, beta-hydroxybutyrate, or BHB, and acetoacetate, or AcAc) for ATP generation, instead of glucose and free fatty acid (FFA). At the time I wrote that post I was particularly (read: personally) interested in the Delta G arbitrage. Stated simply, per unit of carbon, utilization of BHB offers more ATP for the same amount of oxygen consumption (as corollary, generation of the same amount of ATP requires less oxygen consumption, when compared to glucose or FFA). I also concluded that post by discussing the possibility of testing this (theoretical) idea in a real person, with the help of exogenous (i.e., synthetic) ketones. I have seen this effect in (unpublished) data in world class athletes not on a ketogenic diet who have supplemented with exogenous ketones (more on that, below). Case after case showed a small, but significant increase in sub-threshold performance (as an example, efforts longer than about 4 minutes all-out). So I decided to find out for myself if ketones could, indeed, offer up the same amount of usable energy with less oxygen consumption. Some housekeeping issues before getting into it. This is a self-experiment, not real “data”—“N of 1” stuff is suggestive, but it prevents the use of nifty little things likes error bars and p-values. Please don’t over interpret these results. My reason for shari Continue reading >>
My Experience With Exogenous Ketones: Tale And Truth
97 Comments I woke up the morning of the ceremony with butterflies in my stomach. I’d done the necessary prep. I’d abstained from carbs the past week and food the past 24 hours. I’d performed four consecutive full-body circuit workouts to deplete muscle glycogen, and undergone a liver biopsy to confirm full depletion of liver glycogen. I wasn’t taking any chances. Although I had extensive experience generating endogenous ketones and subsisting on my own body fat, exogenous ketones were another matter entirely. You don’t want to mess around with a holy sacrament without doing due diligence. Holy sacrament? Yes. According to ethnographic accounts from early Arctic explorers who encountered the sacred compound, the exogenous ketone was developed by traditional peoples of the wintry north. No one’s quite sure where it arose first—Siberia, Greenland, Alaska, Lapland. What they do know is that these societies revered the type 1 diabetic, a rare find in the pre-contact Arctic. Using an admittedly grisly and cruel process, these groups would starve the tribe’s diabetic to induce ketoacidosis, harvest the ketone-rich urine, and reduce it slowly to a ketone-rich tar over a wood fire. Tribe shamans would dissolve the tar in pine needle tea and distribute it to members exclusively before hunting trips, warfare, and any other activity requiring optimal physical and mental function to boost energy and improve performance. As Mark Twain famously quipped, “The strongest coffee I ever had was a Laplander’s piss.” So when I showed up to the small building on the edge of town on a rainy evening, I was anxious. What was I in for? The solemn countenances worn by my two guides for the day—Dr. Peter Attia, wearing dark robes and swinging a thurible loaded with burning Continue reading >>
This Ketone Energy Drink Promises Superhuman Results—but Will It Work?
A start-up in San Francisco called HVMN has created a drink made of nothing but the ketone ester, and claims that drinking a shot-sized bottle of the stuff will do wonders for athletes' endurance, energy and focus. It's apparently so powerful, HVMN calls it "superfuel." It's “unlike anything we’ve ever seen before,” Kieran Clarke, Ph.D., professor of physiological biochemistry at Oxford University, told Business Insider. Clarke has studied ketones extensively, and has been assisting HVMN with their drink called HVMN Ketone. So what exactly are ketones? As we've reported in the past, they're compounds that your liver makes from your fat reserves when your blood insulin levels are low. “Your liver produces ketones all the time, but the rate depends on carbohydrate and protein intake,” Jeff Volek, Ph.D., R.D., a professor of human sciences at Ohio State University, told Men's Health earlier this year. If you aren't consuming enough carbs and protein, your body will make a ton of the stuff so that it still has fuel to function. HVMN is starting by marketing the ketone drink to athletes. It contains 120 calories and no fat, carbs, or protein. "It is, effectively, a fourth type of fuel for humans," as Business Insider put it. The Best Cup Of Coffee You Will Ever Make: This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. End of dialog window. HVMN's drink contains 120 calories and no fat, carbs, or protein. Before it was released to the public, Clarke tested it among elite cyclists for a study that was published in Cell Metabolism in 2016. The cyclists who were given HVMN Ketone outperformed two other groups who were given either a carb- or fat-based drink by an average of 400 meters. (The Metashred Extreme workout program from Continue reading >>
Nutritionists Warn Not To Trust Expensive ‘keto’ Drinks: Here’s Why
Regardless, it seems it’s not for everyone. And for pasta-loving, potato-munching consumers, the keto diet seems another unattainable “health goal” they’ll never reach. According to one company, however, you don’t need to diet to go into ketosis at all. The San Francisco-based startup HVMN (pronounced “human”) recently released a wellness shot called HVMN Ketone, claiming that it does all the work of keto dieting for you, including inducing ketosis and boosting fat loss. The drink is “proven to improve athletic performance and recovery,” the company’s website claims. Ketosis is a metabolic state caused by excess ketones in the body, and it often occurs when the body is so carb-deprived that it’s forced to resort to burning fat for energy. The keto diet, popular among weightlifters and macro counters, induces ketosis with an extremely low-carb diet plan that’s high in dietary fat and protein. Keto dieters are instructed to eat as little as 30 grams a day — just shy of two slices of whole-wheat sandwich bread. The HVMN Ketone shots claim to induce ketosis by flushing your system with ketones. A three-bottle pack of the stuff retails for $99. A dozen costs $369. However, the claims of athletic performance boosts and fat burning are attracting skepticism from the experts. “I have not yet found one ketone ester supplement that has been able to successfully put someone into the state of ketosis, no matter what dosage they take,” registered dietitian Ben Sit told Buzzfeed. The supplement apparently tastes like “a blend of nail-polish remover and alcohol,” according to their tester. Ben Sit, RDN told Buzzfeed that people want to enter ketosis because they think it’ll burn all their fat stores at once, but that’s not usually the case. “The Continue reading >>
Can Ketone Drinks Really Boost Your Workouts?
A new company is selling Ketone drinks with a promise of boosting your exercises. However, the research is mixed and the little bottles aren’t cheap. A San Francisco start-up is now bottling and selling what they call human “superfuel.” Human-performance company HVMN (pronounced “human”) says their new drink can help you improve athletic performance, boost energy, and even enhance focus and concentration. What’s in this clear, odorless liquid that comes in a petite, shot-sized bottle? It has 120 calories, no fat, no protein, and no carbohydrates. But it does contain what the company’s top executive believes is the “fourth macronutrient” — pure ketone ester. “Ketones are used as highly-efficient fuel for the brain and body,” Geoff Woo, co-founder and chief executive officer of HVMN, told Healthline. Woo says his company’s new drink, called Ketone, harnesses the power of ketones in a ready-to-consume fuel for humans. Unlike today’s energy drinks and sports supplements, Woo says Ketone relies on the body’s own reserves for natural fuel and sustained energy. Ketones deliver a performance boost that is “unlike anything we've ever seen before,” said Kieran Clarke, a professor of physiological biochemistry at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, in an interview with Business Insider. Clarke and her colleagues study ketones. They’ve been working with Woo and HVMN to translate their findings into a consumable product. The product isn’t cheap. One of the 2.2-ounce bottles costs more than $30. What are ketones? Ketones are compounds produced by your liver when your body is unable to use its preferred source of energy, carbohydrates. Almost all foods contain carbohydrates. When you eat them, your body turns those carbohydrates into sugar, o Continue reading >>
Pruvit Keto Os Exogenous Ketones Review – Miracle Supplement?
Pruvit Keto//OS Ketone Operating System Review Hello! Hi, my name is Rachel Vrabel and you can find me on Instagram @womensblogtalk or on Facebook. Today I’m reviewing a supplement made by Prüvit called Keto//OS (Ketone Operating System), which is a powder you mix with water and drink once or twice daily that tastes delicious! Keto OS puts your body into a fat burning state of ketosis within 30 minutes by flooding your body with exogenous ketones. The skinny is – you’re burning FAT rather than carbs. Good for weight loss? Heck yes! And extremely safe. But what’s even more amazing is how you FEEL (remember that, because ketones are NOT just a fat loss aid, that’s just side effect of being in ketosis!) Remember the Atkins Diet – high fat, low carb? It’s a tough diet to follow, but one that works to shed weight quickly if you can endure the food restrictions. A similar diet is the Ketogenic Diet which is a high fat/moderate protein/low carb diet and there are plenty of restrictions. But what if you don’t want to follow a strict diet but you still want the benefits of being in ketosis? This is where Keto//OS sets itself apart from every other supplement on the market! Here are some of the benefits of ketosis and drinking Keto OS: Fat loss Sustained energy Increased focus Suppressed appetite Better mood Better sleep Muscle preservation Anti-aging, clearer skin Please, keep scrolling for information on each of the flavors! But first I’d like to tell you about my Pruvit Keto-OS Results! Check out my Youtube Video Review on Keto OS How Much Weight Have I Lost on Keto OS? Keto OS Before and After Photos – Results from Drinking Keto OS Round #1 (Jan. 2016) Ok so I’ve had two rounds with losing weight on Keto OS and I want to tell you about both times, becau Continue reading >>
- For the love of exogenous ketones!
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Keto Diet Hack: Could A Ketone-infused Beverage Be The Sports Drink Of The Future?
Set aside the neon-colored sugar water—scientists have created a new performance-enhancing beverage, and it’s already producing some impressive results for endurance athletes, helping them push further and feel less sore. That's according to researchers at the University of Oxford and the U.S. National Institutes of Health, who developed the drink as part of a study funded by DARPA, which wanted to create an efficient, nutrient-packed food that could keep soldiers performing at their peak on the battlefield, and U.K. Sport, which saw the obvious benefit for endurance athletes. Unlike the familiar sports drinks you’re used to chugging at the gym, this new drink isn’t packed with sugar. In fact, it has very little sugar at all. The not-so-secret ingredient? Ketones. You've probably heard of ketogenic diets. They theoretically "train" the body to generate energy from ketones by removing almost all carbs and introducing a lot of dietary fat, which the body can start to rely on for its primary source of ketogenic energy. Stay with us here. Ketones are organic compounds that the body can use to generate energy. The body normally does this processing fats to create ketones, but it can also consume available ketones (as is the case in this experiment). The study report says that the drink was almost entirely liquid ketones. (Imagine drinking non-toxic nail polish remover.) They had to put a lot of aspartame in it to mask the flavor. More on this in a bit. "It's really interesting; with a single drink of nutritional ketone you can do the same exercise with completely different metabolism," Pete Cox, M.D., a clinician at Oxford and the lead study author, told Medical News Today. Play Video Play Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Remaining Time -0:00 This is a modal window. Foregroun Continue reading >>
How To Use Exogenous Ketones
Exogenous Ketones were introduced in 2014, about the same time as I was recovering from having my daughter, and therefore very concerned about weight loss. But let’s back up for a bit, because if you’re here reading about Exogenous Ketones, and how to drink ketones for weight loss, let’s start at the beginning so you have a firm foundation to build if you do decided to take a ketone supplement for weight loss. First of all, Exogenous Ketones (we’ll get to exactly what those are in just a sec…hang in there) were introduced as the Ketogenic Diet started gaining popularity among the health and fitness community, as well as with the scientific community. Why? Well, it’s all about health. For so long, doctors and researchers have preached the benefits of a low-fat diet to prevent and correct all sort of things like heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity, etc. But….they may have been wrong. I am not a doctor, and do not have a medical degree, but I’ve done my homework, and I’ve lived (and am currently living) a ketogenic lifestyle. So I’ve done this, I’ve read loads and loads about it, and I’ve even been able to help many of my friends use the things I’ve learned to lead healthier lives. But, as with anything concerning your health, please make sure you have a discussion with your doctor before making a drastic change. Related: I lost 23 pounds in 60 days of Keto. Here’s how. Ok, legal stuff over, here’s what a Ketogenic Diet is: A Ketogenic Diet, also know as the Keto Diet, is a very high fat, very low carb, moderate protein diet that is very popular because it can cause you to lose body fat very fast, and study after study after study has linked Keto with benefits against cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and more. Eating Ketogenical Continue reading >>
Avoid This Ketogenic Rip-off
The Truth About Exogenous Ketones Ketones are all the rage among low carbers. And like most things in nutrition and performance, we've found a way to get them in supplement form so we don't have to do any actual work. What are ketones? They're a byproduct of ketosis caused by the process of converting fat to fuel. Your body makes them when it's in a calorie or carb restricted state. What do they do? The body and brain can use them as fuel without the presence of glucose in the blood. And now, you can take ketone supplements (salts and esters), known as exogenous ketones, without actually restricting anything. According to those promoting this nasty-tasting supplement, that means you can have a brain and body fuelled by ketones, along with all of the supposed health benefits that come with running on fat. Well, don't fall for it. Exogenous Ketones = Endogenous Fat Storage? The problem with ketone supplementation (EXOgenous) is that it's not even close to the same thing as being in ketosis (ENDOgenous ketone production). And just like the butter-blended-into-coffee trend, it's a farce. Ketones may be depressing dieters' hunger and giving them a hit of energy and cognitive enhancement, but it's INHIBITING their ability to burn fat, providing zero nourishment, and doing nothing for their metabolic health. There's an assortment of evidence suggesting that it's probably making things worse. Think of exogenous ketones kind of like alcohol. When they're consumed, everything is stored and nothing else is burned. So any lipolysis (fat burning) that would be taking place is halted; any glucose and fatty acids in your blood that were circulating are stored; and the ingested ketones are burned until there aren't any left. More importantly, this clearance of alternative fuels (glucos Continue reading >>
Ketones: Secret Weapons In Fitness And The Fight Against Fat?
If you’ve been hearing all the chatter about the latest health and fitness fad, you may well be wondering what all the fuss is about ketones. From diets to supplements, there are a lot of different ways to “go keto.” The ketogenic diet, which was first developed in the 1900s, bears striking similarities to the Paleo diet and the Atkins diet. This practice usually means trying to eat a high-protein and low-carb diet, so say goodbye to pasta and potatoes. In fact, ketones are chemicals made from the fat that your body burns for fuel when there are no carbohydrates left to consume, as the Atlantic reports. The thinking is that if you keep to a strict diet, or take a ketone supplement, you can try and achieve a consistent state of ketosis, which some say can help you lose weight or boost athletic performance. Could it be a secret weapon in the fight against fat? If you are a runner or a bicyclist looking for an edge, or a dieter desperate to shed those unwanted pounds, that may sound too good to be true. The hope is that you can put some wow into your workout. One company set to release a ketone energy drink has dubbed it the “fourth food group.” Of course, the taste of such supplements may also be a factor. One game Atlantic writer described the flavor this way: “It tasted like cough syrup that had been poured into a garbage bag and left in the sun.” Research into the efficacy of ketones has been conflicting. A study conducted last year, as the New York Times reported, found that a ketone supplement seemed to improve the cycling performance of a group of 39 trained bike riders. It should be noted that this study, which was conducted by Oxford University, looked at moderate levels of exercise and not competition-level intensity, but it added fuel to the hope t Continue reading >>
Scientists Think They've Discovered A Fourth Type Of Fuel For Humans — Beyond Carbs, Fat, And Protein
Ketones could supercharge the body in a way unlike any other source of fuel. The San Francisco-based startup HVMN recently launched a drink made of pure ketone ester that it says can help people harness its performance-boosting qualities. The company partnered with Oxford University to leverage $60 million worth of scientific research with elite athletes. The nutrition label on a shot-size bottle of this clear, odorless liquid defies traditional explanation. It contains 120 calories — roughly the equivalent of a hearty slice of bread — yet it has no fat, no protein, and no carbohydrates. Those calories instead come from ketones, an ingredient that Geoff Woo, the cofounder and CEO of a San Francisco-based human-performance startup called HVMN (pronounced "human"), likes to call "the fourth macronutrient." "It's not a fat, it's not a protein, it's not a carb, but your body gets fuel from it," Woo told Business Insider. With that in mind, Woo launched his company's first ketone product, a 2.2-ounce bottle of ketone ester called Ketone. The drink, now available for preorder, promises improved athletic ability and energy, and a heightened sense of focus. To make the product, HVMN leveraged more than a decade and $60 million worth of scientific research through an exclusive partnership with Oxford University. Ketone could boost performance 'unlike anything we've ever seen' Most of the food we eat contains carbs. The carbs in fruit come from naturally occurring sugars; those in potatoes, veggies, and pasta come from starch. They're all ultimately broken down into sugar, or glucose, for energy. When robbed of carbs, the body turns to fat for fuel. In the process of digging into its fat stores, the body releases molecules called ketones. A high-fat, low-carb diet (also known Continue reading >>
The Perks Of Fasting, With None Of The Work
“If there’s a downside, it is kind of crazy tasting,” said Geoff Woo, the founder of HVMN, a Silicon Valley company that makes nootropics, or performance-enhancing supplements. We were in a conference room in The Atlantic’s office building, and he was bracing me for my trial run of his latest product. It was a small, clear vial labeled “Ketone,” a new type of energy drink his company is releasing this week. Its nutrition label says it contains 120 calories, but no carbs, no fat, and no protein. Instead, it’s all ketones, the chemical that Woo and his company are calling a “fourth food group.” He hopes the drink will allow people to reap the benefits of occasional fasting—high ketone levels inside the body—without actually having to not eat. I unscrewed the top and, college-days muscle memory kicking in, chugged it like a shot of Captain Morgan. It tasted like cough syrup that had been poured into a garbage bag and left in the sun. “Augh!” I cried. “I compare it to a combination of a liquor shot with nail-polish remover,” Woo said. Woo’s coworker, Brianna Stubbs, went to fetch me a glass of water. “We’ve done a lot of work to make it better,” she said. Within an hour, the drink was supposed to help improve my athletic performance by changing how my body burned energy during exercise. Some people also say it helps them feel more energetic and focused on their work. About 25 minutes after I drank Ketone, Woo and Stubbs pricked my finger to see if it was working. My blood sugar, which had verged on diabetic levels from some pineapple I had eaten that morning, was down to near-normal levels. Meanwhile, my ketones, which had been practically nonexistent before imbibing—measuring just 0.2 millimolar—had soared to 4.9. “It would have Continue reading >>
Exogenous Ketones Pros And Cons
What Are Exogenous Ketones? Exogenous Ketones (EK for short) are ketone supplements and by definition, a supplement is a thing added to something else in order to complete or enhance it. Think about it like building muscle, good supplements can enhance your results, but if you don’t eat right and exercise, supplements are just useless. You can’t just sit on the couch to watch TV, eat potato chips all day and drink some supplements and expect to gain muscle. A supplement is not a miracle. It’s just an addition and before you add it to your diet, you need to get the basic right first, which is dieting and exercise in the case of building muscles. The supplements are not going to lift the heavy weights for you. You do! Back to the case of EK. If you cheat on your keto diet and eat a ton of carbs, and you want to use EK as a way to feel better and less guilty about it, it’s probably not a smart choice because EK won’t do anything for you (more on this later). However, if you are eating LCHF and somehow you’re not feeling your best, EK can be helpful and we will explain more below. Our Approach We own and manage a few growing Keto Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members and we often see the exogenous ketones topic comes up. We have seen a lot of confusion and criticism as well as support from our members. Most of the complaints are normally because of the expensive price of some products, the lack of understanding about what the product is and what it does to your body or because some sellers/promoters try to bend the truth to get you buy their products or recruit you into their multi level marketing team. We recently ran a survey in our private group and asked people if they have used EK before and if it worked for them. Here’s the result: Many peopl Continue reading >>
