Ketones: The Energy That Saved the Human Race

The interest in the hot, but controversial ketogenic diet has been growing on a daily basis. The diet consists of mostly fat (generally 70% of the diet or more), with generally lesser amounts of protein and a minimal amount of carbohydrates. During this carbohydrate-restricted diet, blood glucose (sugar) levels eventually fall. Glycogen, which is a form of sugar that is stored in muscle (the body stores most of its accessible energy as fat), is used for energy. After a certain period of time, the body begins to burn its fat stores and the liver begins producing ketones to provide energy to our cells.

Ketones are not the dangerous poisons that some tend to describe them as, nor are they magic beings that cure every disease and ailment known to man, something that more and more people seem to be claiming these days. Ketone bodies are nothing more than sources of energy that can feed cells throughout the body and can also cross the blood-brain barrier to keep our neurons firing throughout the day (and throughout the night, where many of us have already experienced ketosis).

These sources of energy kept the human race intact and alive over its lifetime, especially during periods of limited food supplies and in the winter when we relied on a high-fat and low carbohydrate diet. Ketones are normal aspects of human physiology that allow the body to function close to its normal physiologic state, which may help fight diseases like cancer,1–4 and has certainly been shown to fight diabetes and obesity.