Want to lose weight, have more mental clarity, prevent cancer, and save money on your car insurance? Take exogenous ketones. Or so the supplement manufacturers, and spammy websites would have you believe.
But before going there, first, what are exogenous ketones? To answer that, we need to take another step back, and answer the question of “what is the ketogenic diet?”
Original source: here.
The ketogenic diet is simply a diet low enough in carbohydrates (typically under 50 grams per day) for the body to make ketones. And what are ketones (AKA ketone bodies)? Ketones are 3 different molecules (never mind the technical names) that are made by the liver from fatty acids. So the theory goes: if you’re in ketosis, you’re burning fat. I say “theory”, because it’s not true. If you’re in ketosis, and your calories are low enough to burn fat, yeah, you’ll burn fat, and the ketosis is incidental. If you’re in ketosis and your calories are too high, you won’t burn fat. Even though you’ll be in ketosis.
The ketogenic diet is extremely trendy right now, because of its purported benefits, like:
- Weight loss
- Mental clarity
- Cancer prevention
- Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s prevention
And on, and on. I say “purported” benefits, because many of those are unproven. Truthfully, I think the ketogenic diet is particularly popular for 2 specific reasons:
- You experience fast weight loss, as happens in most low carbohydrate diets, because water is lost rapidly.
- It’s cool to say the word “ketogenic”, because most people around you have no clue what it means, so you sound smart.
Overall, I elaborate on a lot of the myths of low carbohydrate dieting in this article, so I won’t rehash that here.
But anyways, back to our original question: what are exogenous ketones? It’s simply ketones as a supplement. If the body naturally produces ketones when carbs are low enough, and we get all these supposed benefits, then supplementing with ketones should give us all the same benefits, without actually having to eat low carbs… right? That’s the whole idea behind exogenous ketones. It’s a low-carb diet in a pill – without the need for a low carb diet. Feels like something out of a JP Sears video.
Sound too good to be true? That’s because it is.
The truth is that there are almost no studies of exogenous ketones in humans. Most studies (which by the way, go as far back as the 1950s, so it’s nothing new) are done on mice or rats. And to make some conclusive statements about whether something works or not, there need to be multiple, high-quality studies in the target population (like, humans).
So really – what’s the scoop on exogenous ketones? As it stands right now, the best answer we can give is “we don’t know.” We don’t know whether they are beneficial. We don’t know whether they are harmful. We don’t know whether they are neutral.
I think the enthusiasm over exogenous ketones is very misplaced based on the available evidence (or lack thereof).
