Exogenous ketones as a "gateway drug" for carb eaters?

(Sjur Gjøstein Karevoll) #1

First a bit of background, feel free to skip it: I’ve been doing keto since the end of May, and doing very well. This is actually the second time I’m doing keto, the first time I started 6 years ago and went on for almost two years before I got depression and stopped caring about everything. That time I lived by myself, and while my family was glad to see how much my physical fitness had improved they didn’t really pick up on the difference keto had on my daily life, and they thought low-carb was just a fad diet no matter how I tried to convince them otherwise. Fast forward to today; I moved back in with my parents a few years ago because of my depression, and started keto again at the end of May, so I’ve been going for about two months now. This time both my parents and my sister (who’s also back home for the summer) really did notice the (rather profound) effects keto has on me beyond just my weight dropping, so they’re a lot less vigorous in their opposition, but they still remain somewhat unconvinced.

So, what I’m thinking is that beyond just showing my family the effect keto has had on me, I wonder if it’s possible to give them a taste of the mental effects of being in ketosis with exogenous ketones, even if it’s just for a short time. I don’t expect this to be some all-powerful argument to win them over, I just want to share some of my experiences with them that goes beyond just telling them about how I feel and relaying the knowledge I have.

I might just get some exogenous ketones anyway, just to satisfy my own curiosity (I have no plans on incorporating them in my life beyond that), but I’m wondering if anyone has any experience with using them, if you notice a difference in mental focus, and in particular feeding them to people on a high-carb diet and how they experience it.

(Keto in Katy) #2

I don’t know but I am very skeptical that anyone can “fake” the benefits of natural ketosis this way. It may not even be safe.

If you want to persuade someone of the benefits I think the best way is to demonstrate it. You will find many posts here about attempts to convert unhealthy friends and family to keto, many of which fail because people don’t change until they are truly ready to. I tried that with some family members a few years ago, and I won’t do it again. They are still fat and diabetic because everyone knows that eating fat is unhealthy.

Sigh.

(Carpe salata!) #3

All you can be is an example.

If you tried to convince them with something like that, they would stub their toe and say “see? It’s no good.”

Just keep calm and keto on :slight_smile:

#4

I’ve heard anecdotal evidence exogenous ketones will help with Alzheimer’s within days to weeks, so it’s not much of a stretch from there to mental focus in normal people. I have no idea what the time frame would be to see improvement. As for the dangers of racemic ketones, I would guess it depends on how long they took them.

@Donna might have more to say on this.

(Meeping up the Science!) #5

Hmm.

If you are already in ketosis, I’d argue the benefits would be more limited, since brain energy is already fueled by ketones. The brain is the largest energy sink in the body, after all, and a huge percentage of our consumed energy go towards that purpose. And, ketosis is fabulous for mood and anxiety disorders. It has a good clinical track record of stabilizing bipolar mood swings, for instance, in dramatic ways.

The issue is that we do not have much research on brain performance and exogenous ketones’ effect on a typical individual who is already in nutritional ketosis. Since most people will consume them, or MCT oil with coffee, that is a huge confound right there, since caffeine is a stimulant that enhances mental performance. You would have to rule out any/all stimulants and other substances that mimic stimulants. It would be very hard to determine improvement from exogenous ketones alone.

Exogenous ketones are potentially useful for carb-eaters who have neurological issues, because the brain will suck those right up since they are not typically produced when one eats a higher-carb diet with a few exceptions - during sleep being one. This is because dementia greatly disrupts the brain’s ability to utilize energy, and ketones are more “digestible” for the brain.

Additionally, when in ketosis, levels of a protein called beta amyloid tend to drop. This is known for contributing, or being involved with at least, Alzheimer’s pathology. There are some indications it may also help restore neural plasticity, but a lot is unknown.

For example, we don’t yet have an ideal way to administrate them, and very few people research exogenous ketones at all in general. They are also typically a different form than the ones we ingest.

If you do have to use them, I think the brain octane blend/brand is probably one of the better ones. I am dubious about a lot of the other supplements.