Should I invest in a ketone meter or breathalizer

(Dee Eichler) #1

I know it’s not required but is it helpful? I know urine strips aren’t reliable but will any other meters be reliable even after fat adaption

(Janelle) #2

I haven’t bought one because I have heard that the numbers don’t matter as long as they read something. I also know what I’m eating and I should be in ketosis since I don’t go off plan. If I was in maintenance and toying with how many carbs might throw me out, it might be interesting to have one.

(Bob M) #3

I’m first and foremost a scientist, and therefore I like data. I have about 1,500 samples of all sorts (all ketones, urine, blood, breath; many different blood sugar readings using different monitors; etc.) over 5 years of being on low carb. What happens when you exercise? What actually affects your ketosis levels? Does high fat help or hurt? Does protein help or hurt? (Where help = higher levels of ketones and hurt = lower levels of ketones.)

Having said that, I haven’t been testing for the last few months. Ran out of money and the tests weren’t telling me anything new.

#4

I recently bought a cheapie blood alcohol tester from amazon to compare to my blood ketone reader. I tested them against one another to hopefully understand when Im in ketosis and eventually only use the BAC tester. I love the science in this WOE and like knowing which foods I can eat and remain in ketosis, etc.
Anyway…I got a reading of .1 g/l on the BAC meter and .4 on my ketone blood meter. I just returned to keto eating after falling off the wagon for a week during Christmas and family being in town. Happy to say it only took me a day to return to ketosis after my 7-day-full-on-every-meal-carb-binge.

(Todd Allen) #5

I love my cheap breathalyzers such as this one at $3.79
https://www.ebay.com/p/Portable-Mini-Digital-LCD-Alcohol-Breath-Analyzer-Breathalyzer-Tester-Detector/19026720901

#6

Mine looks just like that…paid more though because it was on Amazon but got it the next day. Instructions were in very broken English.

#7

To answer your question, I’m with @ctviggen. Being an engineer, I too like data. I think it is worth the investment if you want to see what affects your ketones. If you don’t care, then you don’t need it. You can do Keto without a meter. Many on the forum do not use a meter.

I have a keto-mojo blood meter. I would buy a cheapo breath analyzer if I have confidence that the numbers are credible. A breath analyzer is more convienent and cheaper than a blood meter.

So, are these cheapo breath analyzers accurate?

I am assuming the results from both meters are in the same units. If so, then it seems to me that the difference in readings is significantly different.

Wow, @brownfat, $3.79???. Thanks for the tip. Never knew they were so cheap.

Any one else have experience with these cheap breath analyzers?

#8

No, not the same units. My blood ketone records in mmol/L. There is a big thread about using the cheapie blood alcohol meters because they do not differentiate between ketones and alcohol you’ve injested…just dont try to figure out if you are in ketosis if you’ve had a drink! LOL.

(John) #9

I got a couple of the cheap ones. they worked well for awhile but after a few months they seemed to be less reliable. originaly they would have the same results but over time they were way off from each other and i dont know if just one failed or both. It was still a nice toy for when I originally went keto.

(Running from stupidity) #10

If you just want to check in/out, the breathalyser is fine, and a (very minimal) one-time cost. There’s no need to have even that, but it’s cheap cheap cheap and it works.

I have one in a drawer somewhere.

But even if they were the same units, they’re measuring different things. Which is why I’d be surprised if anyone can come up with an equation to convert one to the other.

(barrytspencer) #11

Youtube

This was interesting by Dr Boz

GKI [Glucose Ketone Index] ratio explained = Glucose divided by 18 : Ketones

However what Dr Boz does is Glucose/Ketones (US based though i.e 75 mg/dL Glucose is 4.2 mmol/L)

Dr Boz RATIO LESS THAN 80 = weight loss zone. Some autophagy may be happening.

Dr Boz RATIO LESS THAN 40 = benefit with all the deep tissue/organ inflammation and auto-immune problems. (Leaky gut, brain fog, Crohn’s, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto’s) More autophagy should be happening.

Dr Boz RATIO LESS THAN 20 = Cancer & extreme health issues. . This was my mom’s category. This zone is really hard. No playing around. Make sure your doctor is watching you closely. Almost all are likely to have autophagy at this stage.

#12

Duh! You are right! Yes, both measuring something different.

(Running from stupidity) #13

Same basic name, though, which doesn’t really help at all.

Much like “calorie.” :slight_smile:

#14

Pee stix should stop registering after you have fully adapted (but then some people will say, they still get readings).

I purchased a blood ketone meter - one day I had 0.4 mM at 10AM - then 1.3mM in the same day at 10PM. The numbers bounce around all day … Pee stick numbers also bounce around all day …

For me the best measuring tool is my Fitbit Versa / iPhone App and web site to track all food, especially net carbs.

Belt size is down 2 notches.

A regular enjoy feeling my belly, I pinch the fat still remaining, and can literally notice it dwindling down … not scientific … but I like it.

I weigh myself every morning straight after first toilet trip, knowing water levels are +/- 2L at any given moment, but still overall I’ve lost about 5Kgs (11lbs) in a month so … all good.

Instead of a ketone meter or breathalizer focus on counting grams of carbs and stuff like that …

#15

I have a breath-her-lyzer.

My wife tells me when I’m in ketosis.

(Todd Allen) #16

No they aren’t accurate. I’ve got 3 different ones and each has a different threshhold level needed to read non-zero and they each have different rates of increasing readings with increasing breath acetone. But they have good consistency. I can use any one of my 3 meters and know within +/- .01% BAC what each of the other two will read. And tracking the readings in comparison to blood readings of ketones and glucose I have a pretty good sense of where I am at metabolically. Now I mostly rely on a breathalyzer and check glucose when my breath reading is unexpectedly low or I’m changing my regimen in a significant way and I check blood ketones maybe once a month.

One issue is the meters have varying sensitivity to breathing technique. The one I use most (my cheapest one) is little affected by breath timing or flow. One I must take great care to use it in a particular way or it will read low and the other is of middling sensitivity to breathing technique.

(Running from stupidity) #17

As Todd says, they’re not medical devices. But they will tell you if you’re expelling ketones in your breath, and at vaguely what level, which is what you want them to do.

The safest way to think of them is as a binary ketosis indicator - am I in ketosis or not? I triggered it to give a reading? Great, I’m in ketosis. Sorted.

(Bob M) #18

I have both a keto-mojo (and used to use a different ketone meter, forget the name now) and also a Ketonix (first model), and there’s not a lot of relationship between blood and breath ketones. That I can find anyway. But I’ve been low carb for 5 years now, and gave up on pee sticks many years ago, so I wanted something to let me know what was going on. Can I tell when I’m in “deeper” ketosis without them? Yes. Can I tell I’m in ketosis without them? No. I assume I’m in ketosis, but say I have an eggnog this weekend (which I will) that has sugar in it. Will I be in ketosis after that, if I have only one drink and no other carbs that day? No idea without a blood monitor (can’t even use my Ketonix, as alcohol interferes with it). (The eggnog we have at home has no data whatsoever on it, so I can’t estimate carb content.)

(Bob M) #19

I’ll give you another example. Last year on Christmas Eve, while everyone else had sushi, I had soup (ostensibly just veggies and shrimp) and sashimi (all meat). I was wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and was shocked to see my blood sugar skyrocket due to the soup. Yes, the soup. Whatever they used to thicken the soup (likely, corn starch) caused me a hit, which I’m sure affected my ketosis. If I did not have my CGM and no way to gauge ketones, I’d have no idea whether I was in ketosis or not.

If you eat out a lot, you can be careful and still get kicked out of ketosis, and measuring is the only way you’d know.

(Running from stupidity) #20

This is why I’d love to have CGMs be reasonably affordable down here, for exactly this, the immediate feedback.

As to whether I’m “technically in ketosis” or not? Really not worried. If I’m not right now, I soon will be, so it’s not an issue, I became fat-adapted long ago.