What Do Exogenous Ketones Do?

What Are Exogenous Ketones: Can You Eat Carbs And Stay Keto?

It was a few years ago when I found out, i’ve been lied to. Everyone out there telling us that we need to be eating a lot of carbs and to stay away from fats. Anyways, what are exogenous ketones? Do they really help with fat-adaptation? Even those who went out of their way to receive a “nutrition degree” is falsely educated on what it really means to stay healthy. I figured, screw it, I’m gonna do my own experiments and see what suits me best. I did the IIFYM (if it fits your macros) diet, a low fat high carb diet, and of course, the ketogenic diet. Being someone who exercises a lot, I was told by countless people that I needed carbs if I wanted to perform optimally. They couldn’t be any further from the truth. You’re probably in the same position I was in a couple years ago. You had this belief that the only way to make the gains in the gym, drop body fat, and look sexy is by eating as low fat as possible while eating carbs to “fuel your workouts”. Because fats make you fat, right? Wrong. While every diet regimen out there can definitely make you lose weight, some diets can do some serious damage to your metabolism and hormonal function. I used to follow a strict low fat high carb diet. And it worked, I had a six pack and looked good with my shirt off. But my testosterone levels were complete shit. I had no energy to do anything and I felt like a plank of wood. Lifeless. It wasn’t until I began to follow a low carb high fat ketogenic diet did I start to have awesome energy levels and STILL look physically great. I realized that being in a state of ketosis gave me the most energy and mental clarity. What Is Ketosis? Ketosis is a State where your body’s energy comes from ketones. This is achieved by restricting carbohydrates. By cutting carbs out, you Continue reading >>

Exogenous Ketones And You

Ketones are molecules created when your body breaks down fat for energy instead of sugars, and are used to indicate that your body is in ketosis. They are the primary substance used to gauge your ketogenic diet. You can test for ketones using home urine tests, which are great for finding whether you’re in ketosis. Recently, exogenous ketones have been creating a lot of buzz in the keto world. While evidence for and against these ketones has surfaced, continued progress will foster greater exogenous ketone options for health and wellness. What are exogenous ketones? Exogenous ketones are synthetic supplements used to increase the amount of ketones in your body. Because these are supplements, they’re used in addition to your body’s natural ketones, and do not replace sugars if sugars are present in your body. Exogenous ketone supplements typically come in either powder or oil, and are commonly mixed with other foods or water, although you may consume them straight. There are also a few exogenous ketone supplements in tablet form, but those are a less common way of consumption. What are endogenous ketones? Endogenous ketones are the compounds your body creates when breaking down fat instead of sugars for energy. This is done during nutritional ketosis when carbs are removed from your diet, forcing your body to switch to fat as the source of energy. When most people think about ketones, they’re thinking about endogenous ketones. What do exogenous ketones do? Exogenous ketones simply add extra ketones to your body, which can lower your blood glucose levels, suppress your appetite in varying amounts, and give your body a jolt to prepare for burning fats. Exogenous ketones can help add a boost to your already keto-adapted lifestyle. Once you’re already in ketosis, or Continue reading >>

Beware Exogenous Ketones

There are three ways to raise blood levels of ketones and obtain the potential benefits from them: physiological ketosis via strict carbohydrate limitation or fasting; supplementation of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oils that are metabolized in the liver to ketones; and actually taking the ketone, beta-hydroxybutyrate. In this Undoctored Blog post, I’d like to discuss exogenous ketones. While fascinating with potential for substantial health benefits, there are some very real dangers with the current products on the market, so much that I have reported two of the products to the FDA. This is part of the expanded health discussion I begin in the new Undoctored book, Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor, with a comprehensive discussion of all aspects of ketosis in the Undoctored Inner Circle Advanced Concepts, the membership site for the truly serious Undoctored follower. You will also find a brief conversation about what I call “Assisted Fasting” using MCT oils in this video. Early research on supplemental exogenous ketones demonstrated fascinating effects, such as protection from hypoglycemia (as ketones are an alternative source of brain energy), protection from seizures (including in Navy seals who breathe high levels of oxygen that can cause fatal underwater seizures), and improved aerobic performance in trained athletes. More recent research has uncovered or confirmed additional effects of supplemental exogenous ketones: Improved endurance and aerobic performance in athletes—-Indeed, many professional athletes are supplementing exogenous ketones. Modest increase in muscle growth with exercise; less muscle lost with weight loss Greater fat burning (oxidation) during exercise, less reliance on glycogen/s Continue reading >>

Effects Of Exogenous Ketone Supplementation On Blood Ketone, Glucose, Triglyceride, And Lipoprotein Levels In Sprague–dawley Rats

Abstract Nutritional ketosis induced by the ketogenic diet (KD) has therapeutic applications for many disease states. We hypothesized that oral administration of exogenous ketone supplements could produce sustained nutritional ketosis (>0.5 mM) without carbohydrate restriction. We tested the effects of 28-day administration of five ketone supplements on blood glucose, ketones, and lipids in male Sprague–Dawley rats. The supplements included: 1,3-butanediol (BD), a sodium/potassium β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) mineral salt (BMS), medium chain triglyceride oil (MCT), BMS + MCT 1:1 mixture, and 1,3 butanediol acetoacetate diester (KE). Rats received a daily 5–10 g/kg dose of their respective ketone supplement via intragastric gavage during treatment. Weekly whole blood samples were taken for analysis of glucose and βHB at baseline and, 0.5, 1, 4, 8, and 12 h post-gavage, or until βHB returned to baseline. At 28 days, triglycerides, total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were measured. Exogenous ketone supplementation caused a rapid and sustained elevation of βHB, reduction of glucose, and little change to lipid biomarkers compared to control animals. This study demonstrates the efficacy and tolerability of oral exogenous ketone supplementation in inducing nutritional ketosis independent of dietary restriction. Background Emerging evidence supports the therapeutic potential of the ketogenic diet (KD) for a variety of disease states, leading investigators to research methods of harnessing the benefits of nutritional ketosis without the dietary restrictions. The KD has been used as an effective non-pharmacological therapy for pediatric intractable seizures since the 1920s [1–3]. In addition to epilepsy, the ketogenic diet has elicited significant therapeut Continue reading >>

Of The Keto Diet?

There are many awesome benefits that come with adopting a low-carb ketogenic diet, such as weight loss, decreased cravings and even possibly reduce disease risks. With that being said, it’s also good to talk about possible ketosis side-effects when ingesting these specific ketone supplements, so you know fully what to expect when you get started on this mission. If you’ve already heard about some of the side-effects that come with this special diet and are starting to freak out, don’t panic. We’re going to break down everything you need to know when it comes to what your body will experience when using these supplements for the first time. It’s important to remember, not everyone experiences side-effects when starting a ketogenic diet and thankfully, the symptoms are all very temporary and it can pass very quickly. It varies with the individual, but just to make sure all your bases are covered, we’re going to break down each possible side effect that you could possibly experience. 1. Flu Symptoms Within the first 2-4 days of beginning this diet, a common side-effect is known as the “ketosis flu” or “induction flu” because it mimics the symptoms of the actual flu. This means you might experience: Headaches Lethargy Lack of motivation Brain fog or confusion Irritability Although these symptoms typically go away completely within a few days, they are also completely avoidable if you stay very hydrated and increase your salt intake and like always, be sure you're eating enough fat. 2. Dizzyness & Drowsiness As you start dumping water, you'll lose minerals such as salt, potassium and magnesium. Having lower levels of these minerals will make you tired, lightheaded or dizzy. You may also experience muscle cramps, headaches and skin itchiness. Fatigue Continue reading >>

Should I Be Taking Exogenous Ketones? (say What?!)

Should I Be Taking Exogenous Ketones? Exogenous ketones were introduced in 2014… About the same time I really started diving into the health benefits of more fat in the diet. But let me back up here, you may not even be familiar with the word “exogenous” so let’s start there: Exogenous vs Endogenous Exogenous = Originates from a source external from the body Endogenous = Originates from a source internal to the body Exogenous ketone bodies are just ketone bodies that are ingested through a nutritional supplement. Ketone bodies produced in the liver are more properly referred to as endogenous ketone bodies. What does the science say? Although I don’t think eating a diet ample in healthy fat is a fad, I do know that when science proves something is beneficial for us, there is a company working relentlessly to manufacture a product related to that discovery that will fly off the shelves. Remember when resveratrol, found in red wine, was proven to be good for us? Supplement companies went crazy marketing pills and drinks with even just the tiniest hint of resveratrol in it promising anti-aging and weight loss. What about garcinia cambogia? Remember that? It was marketed as a product that stopped the body’s ability to make fat and reduce appetite. Very small studies were shown that garcinia cambogia slightly raised levels of serotonin in the brain…that was all. There was no proof that it inhibited fat production and actually suppressed the appetite enough to generate any weight loss. Most of the research put into exogenous ketone supplementation has been for the medical treatment of conditions such as cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s/dementia. Any other research has been done for athletic performance. The goal is to see if the use of exogenous ketones provide Continue reading >>

For The Love Of Exogenous Ketones!

You read that correctly. I love ketones and I am actively pursuing ways to increase my bodies ability to produce them through the use of exogenous ketone supplements. Ketones are a dirty word in the world of diabetes because of the confusion surrounding their appearance as the harbinger of doom through DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). Unfortunately many healthcare providers actively discourage their diabetic patients from attempting to achieve nutritional ketosis because they don’t fully understand the difference between nutritional ketosis and DKA. That difference is NOT the focus of this post, other than to establish the fact that there IS a difference. It’s important to note that the means of detecting DKA is typically the presence of ketones in the blood. Adding them through exogenous supplementation or nutritional ketosis is useful (I would even argue beneficial), but not without some risk. In case of insulin deficiency (bad pump site, occlusion, skipped dose etc) while in ketosis one would be without the means to clearly identify DKA. You’d only be able to guess based on blood glucose level to infer how insulin deficient you are. The risk can be mitigated through vigilance and attention to insulin dosing but shouldn’t be taken lightly. I’ve recently started using exogenous ketones to help put me into nutritional ketosis more readily and I wanted to report the initial findings since I’ve been asked about them so many times. Up till this point I didn’t feel compelled to spend the time and money on exogenous ketone supplements–which are not cheap! I took the plunge and got some delicious, chocolate-flavored betahydroxybutyrate or (BHB) for short. I am not going to attempt to get into the science behind the impacts of BHB on my blood sugar, energy and meta Continue reading >>

Exogenous Ketones: The Truth You Need To Know!

Can Exogenous Ketones really give you the benefits of the actual ketogenic diet? Or is it just another marketing scam done correctly? Let’s dig in and find out! What are Exogenous Ketones and how do they work? What are Ketones? It only makes sense to start with what ketones are before we discuss about Exogenous Ketones. Ketones are a byproduct produced by your liver to be used as fuel when there’s a lack of glucose in your body. They’re always present in your blood and there are 3 types of Ketone bodies [1]: Acetoacetate (AcAc) 3 beta-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) Acetone These are called Endogenous ketones because they’re naturally produced by your body internally. 3 Times Your Body Produces more ketones: Fasting Long period of exercise Diabetes (pathological cause) Endogenous Ketones vs Exogenous Ketones: Exogenous ketones, on the other hand, are the same ketone bodies injected into your body in the form of Ketone supplements and drinks (Salts and Esters). Claim: Exogenous Ketones are being marketed as an instant way to put your body into Ketosis with or without the need to follow a Ketogenic diet. It’s important to remember that Ketogenic diet has been clinically proven to have many health benefits including weight loss. However, we’re discussing the external ketones that you can take in the form of supplements and drinks. What does Clinical research say about Exogenous Ketones? Research evidence: No evidence for the claim that Exogenous Ketone supplements can put you in instant ketosis. No human studies whatsoever. Some brands that talk about the benefits of their supplements seem to focus on the benefits of ketogenic diet rather than any evidence for the supplement. Here’s a study I found: Exogenous Ketones on Rats by Dr. Dominic D’Agostino In this study, t Continue reading >>

Can You Cheat On Your Ketogenic Diet By Taking Keto Supplements?

A ketogenic diet is a strict low-carb eating plan that forces the body to burn fats for energy instead of carbohydrates. When carbs are restricted, the body moves into a state of ketosis, a metabolic state that produces ketones by breaking down fats in the liver, which are then used for diet. Is it Possible to Cheat On the Ketogenic Diet? In a regular moderate to high-carb diet, carbs are converted to glucose in the bloodstream. Glucose is the easiest molecule for the body to convert into energy so it will be used before any other energy source. When the glucose is used for energy, the fats consumed are not needed by the body and are stored, resulting in excess weight. The effectiveness of the diet depends on your carb intake. Normally an intake of between 20-30g of net carbs per day is recommended and reducing this intake to less than 15g will give faster results. As the carb intake of a “normal” diet can range between 150-400g of carbs per day, reducing them to the level required to get into the state can be quite challenging. Because of this, some people may be tempted to have a cheat day on keto. The good thing is that, there are many ways that you can do cheats days or meals without breaking your ketosis state which a lot of people who have been on the diet for years can attest to. So, yes, there are are many ways to do it which we will get into in just a little bit. Keto Supplements That Help You Stay in Ketosis There are various supplements available designed to benefit those on trying the keto diet. Some supplements also aim to induce a state of ketosis in the body, even if the blood glucose level is too high to be achieved naturally. These products or supplements can also help you stay in ketosis even if you decide to take a cheat day on keto: MCT (Mediu Continue reading >>

Are Exogenous Ketones Right For You?

I’ve spent a lot of time lately analysing three thousand ketone vs. glucose data points trying to determine the optimal ketone and blood sugar levels for weight loss, diabetes management, athletic performance and longevity. In this article, I share my insights and learnings on the benefits, side effects and risks of endogenous and endogenous ketosis. But first, I think it’s important to understand the difference between exogenous and endogenous ketosis: Endogenous ketosis occurs when we go without food for a significant period. Our insulin levels drop, and we transition to burning body fat and ketones in our blood rise. Exogenous ketosis occurs when we drink exogenous ketones or consume a ketogenic diet. Ketones are important. As blood glucose decreases, the ketones in your blood increase to keep our energy levels stable. The chart below shows three thousand blood glucose vs ketone values measured at the same time from a range of people following a low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet. While there is generally a linear relationship between glucose and ketones, each person has a unique relationship between their blood glucose and ketone values that provide a unique insight into a particular person’s metabolic health. Hyperinsulinemia has been called as the “unifying theory of chronic disease” [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. It’s beneficial to understand where you stand on the spectrum of metabolic health and insulin sensitivity. The chart below shows the typical relationship between blood glucose and blood ketone for a range of different degrees of insulin resistance/sensitivity. If your blood glucose levels are consistently high it’s likely you are not metabolising carbohydrate well. When you go without food, endogenous ketones are slow to kick in because your insulin Continue reading >>

Exogenous Ketones For Fat Burn

OVERVIEW Exogenous ketones are the newest scientific breakthrough in the world of health and wellness, making the job of achieving ketosis, the state in which the body is burning fat/ketones as fuel rather than glucose, much easier. They come in powder form and are ingested exogenously (a fancy word for outside the body). Exogenous ketones are comprised of beta-hydroxybutyrate salts, which flood your bloodstream with ketones and put the body in ketosis within 30-60 minutes. This means that you can reap all the amazing health benefits of being in ketosis in a simple and effective way (just mix the exogenous ketones with water & drink!). Research is now linking exogenous ketones to a multitude of benefits, including more efficient weight loss, athletic performance enhancement, cancer prevention, cognitive improvement, neuroprotection and anti-inflammatory properties. (See research links below.) In addition, exogenous ketones are an extremely useful tool to easily transition to the ketogenic diet. When taken daily, they can reduce carb/sugar cravings, turn on your fat burners, give you more energy, and keep "low-carb flu" at bay. So bottom line, exogenous ketones are perfect for anyone looking to improve their health and wellbeing. WHY USE THEM Reason #1 - Fat Burning Exogenous ketones for fat burn. Taking exogenous ketones will get you into ketosis quickly. Once your body is done using the exogenous ketones you ingested as fuel, then it will start looking for other places to get ketones from. And lucky for you, ketones are made from the fat stored in your body! So as your body produces more of these ketones as fuel, you end up burning fat. Reason #2 - Energy Our bodies use ketones via our mitochondria to generate energy. They are an alternative fuel source to glucose and Continue reading >>

Four New, Cutting-edge Ways To Easily Shift Your Body Into Fat-burning Mode & Ketosis.

Great article. You actually answered my question as to the ratio of the 3 BHB salts which is quite helpful for me. For me, I had Keto O/S and found it quite good – my favorite was the chocolate swirl. But it was and is very expensive. Only 15-20 servings and would break the bank. So I turned to KetoCaNa and I’ve tried two flavours. Both of them were so salty that I almost threw up every time. Like flavoured sea water. Also only 15 serving per bottle. Then I turned to Ketond which is okay – Tigers Blood and Caramel Macchiato. What I like about Ketond is that it has a full 30 servings and is very transparent with it’s ingredients. It’s also the same price as Keto OS but you get 30 servings. But still, not the best taste. So in the end, I ordered 1kg of pure BHB Magnesium from a supplier in China and I will be developing my own Ketone product with 30 servings as a lower price than all the competitors, and with more Magnesium, and Calcium in it than Sodium so that it tastes the best and actually helps with weight loss (which Magnesium is proven to do at the right amount). What the companies don’t tell you is that actually Sodium BHB is the cheapest, then Calcium BHB and then Magnesium BHB to source so I would be interested in knowing if what you wrote is actually true or just an excuse to make the product cheaper. Probably a mix of both. So I have 2 questions Ben: 1. If you had to split the 11.7g of BHB into Sodium, Ca, and Mg, what ratio would you do for the best health results and potential weight loss? The current products on the market are about an 80/12/8 split. I would think it should be the other way around. 2. When I develop my own product and sell it, would you be up for sampling it and reviewing it on your website here? What flavours do you like/would Continue reading >>

My Big, Fat, N=1 Exogenous Ketones Supplementation Experiment (while Eating A Keto Diet)

My Big, Fat, n=1 Exogenous Ketones Supplementation Experiment (while Eating a Keto Diet) Here we go. I’ve been slightly apprehensive about sharing this latest experiment with you, because up until recently I was where I’m sure many of you are right now in my belief that exogenous ketones were a mother flippin’ ripoff. After all, all good keto kids know that ketone bodies are the RESULT of putting our bodies successfully in ketosis, so why in the hell would we want to pay to put ketones from outside ourselves into our system? Well, I got my reasons, which I’ll share with you in a bit. First, my purpose: to do an n=1 experiment in order to see if using exogenous ketones can help me lose weight while on a ketogenic diet — that is, a diet that already puts my body in ketosis. ***HUGE DISCLAIMER: I used my own hard-earned money to pay for the exogenous ketones. I was not approached by any company, and I am not doing this experiment on behalf of anybody but myself.*** Now for some background info on me: I’ve been following a keto diet for 20 months now I am approximately 75lbs overweight Aside from an initial fluid loss of 10lb, I have never lost any weight on keto Over these last 20 months I have experimented with altering my macros, intermittent fasting (IF), extended fasting, egg fasting, and meat fasting, and nothing to date has had any measurable, lasting impact on my weight I have PCOS I have low cortisol levels due to chronic Lyme disease that was finally treated in December 2016 and January 2017 I still do consider keto to be a success for me! I used it along with the protocol in the book The Mood Cure to finally get off antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication that I was previously unsuccessful in transitioning off of for 10 years (Note: Don’t ever a 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 >>

What Are Exogenous Ketone Supplements And Are They Worth The Cost?

**all supporting articles are linked in text Great question. Yes we are seeing exogenous ketone supplements all over the place now largely because of the growing popularity of the ketogenic diet. Let’s get into what they do and how to use them. What are Ketones and What is Ketosis? Ketones are fatty acids that your liver produces in mass quantities when you are in a state of ketosis. There are two main ketones that we produce: beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and acetyl-acetate (AcAc). AcAc is created first and get’s converted to BHB creating Acetone as a byproduct that gets released through your breathing. Your body’s preferred source of fuel for your brain is glucose, but if that were all our brains could survive on, we wouldn’t be here. Our primitive ancestors often saw shortages of food and blood glucose, so we developed the ability to burn ketones for fuel. So when our bodies are short on carbohydrate to supply blood glucose, our livers begin converting our fat stores into ketones. You are said to be in a state of nutritional ketosis when your blood ketones rise to between 0.5 and 5mM. To get into a natural state of ketosis, you need to do one of two things: 1) fast for several days to deprive yourself of glucose and kick your body into ketosis, 2) consume a strict high fat, moderate protein, very low carbohydrate diet for a period of 10-21 days ignorer to adapt into ketosis. To learn more about this process, you can get a free keto-adaptation guide by signing up for our newsletter at Exogenous ketone supplements provide a method of getting into short periods of nutritional ketosis without going through these arduous processes. There are two forms of exogenous ketones: esters and salts. As of the writing of this article, esters are still in the experimental phase Continue reading >>