What are fuels that the brain can run on? I’ve read that the brain can run on a mixture of glucose,ketones,lactate and pyruvate. What does the forums have to say?
What can the brain run on?
Iced
(The amazing autoimmune 🦄)
#2
I was just reading about all of these this weekend. I think you are right.
At this point that is what scientists understand, but I have come to the belief that they really don’t understand a lot of things so it is a limited understanding.
David_Stilley
(Full Metal KETO AF)
#3
Lactate, pyruvate and glucose are all carb related. The ideal brain food is ketones. Babies enter ketosis quickly after birth and remain in ketosis while breastfeeding until the introduction of carbs. During this time major brain development happens because of the brain using ketones to function.
RustyJames
#4
It was my (possibly erroneous) understanding that, although you don’t need to eat carbs to keep your brain running, your brain does need some glucose, which your liver handily produces in the absence of dietary carbs. Is this correct?
CarlKeller
(Carl Keller)
#5
Our brain can run on mostly ketones (70%) but it still requires some glucose (30%). What’s amazing is that we don’t have to eat carbs to get the glucose. Gluconeogenesis can manufacture all the glucose we need.
FatBomb
(Jay Patten)
#7
Our livers will make everything we need to run our brains so long as we feed ourselves nutritious [keto] food.
BenBoy
(Ben )
#8
I have just read an article in Science Direct that suggested that Astrocyte cells in the brain can produce ketones for the brain to use. Who would have thought that !
CarlKeller
(Carl Keller)
#9
Link please. I just did a little sleuthing on the subject and most of what I found was too scholarly for me but I did find this:
Ketone bodies make an important contribution to brain energy production and biosynthetic processes when glucose becomes scarce. Although it is generally assumed that the liver supplies the brain with ketone bodies, recent evidence shows that cultured astrocytes are also ketogenic cells. Moreover, astrocyte ketogenesis might participate in the control of the survival/death decision of neural cells in at least two manners: first, by scavenging non-esterified fatty acids the ketogenic pathway would prevent the detrimental actions of these compounds and their derivatives (e.g. ceramide) on brain structure and function. Second, ketone bodies may exert pro-survival actions per se by acting as cellular substrates, thereby preserving neuronal synaptic function and structural stability. These findings support the notion that ketone bodies produced by astrocytes may be used in situ as substrates for neuronal metabolism, and raise the possibility that astrocyte ketogenesis is a neuroprotective pathway.
But now I want to know why this is necessary. Does this happen in the absence of available glucose and there are no dietary fats or stored fats available to produce ketones by the liver? Is it simply a case of extreme starvation that cause the astrocytes to produce ketone bodies?
BenBoy
(Ben )
#14
What I would like to know is what parts of the brain use keytones. The Lobes, areas, cortex, glands or all cells ?
x-Dena-x
(Little Miss Scare-All)
#15
Mine used to run on Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, but…ya know… not quite on the plan lol. As an aside, I also needed the calculator for basic mathematics lol. So much for brain food.