The ketogenic diet is a popular fad diet that has gained popularity for its purported ability to help its followers lose weight and gain mental clarity. A few years ago, it gained traction in the sports world as a way to improve performance, especially in endurance situations. This has led to its use as a pre-workout supplement for performance enhancement purposes.New research published in International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise MetabolismHowever, it suggests the opposite: ketone supplementation may actually worsen performance.
What are ketone bodies?
Let’s start with the basics. Ketone bodies are products produced by the body when it lacks enough glucose to burn for energy. Like a well-oiled machine, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose in your body. Glucose is used as the body’s primary and preferred source of energy. The brain especially likes glucose. When glucose stores are depleted, the body begins to break down fat for energy and enter a state of ketosis.
What is ketosis?
In a nutshell, ketosis is a metabolic state that occurs when the body uses fat as its primary fuel source. Ketosis can be induced by dietary changes such as fasting, eating a low-carbohydrate diet, or by ketone supplementation. Ketone supplements in powder, liquid, and capsule form contain a type of ketone known as beta-hydroxybutyric acid, also known as BHB.
BHB is a ketone produced naturally by the liver when the body’s glucose supply is too low. BHB supplements are manufactured to provide your body with ketone bodies externally, even if you are not on a low-carb diet. Maintaining a state of ketosis is believed to lead to weight loss. And maintaining ketosis can be difficult for a myriad of reasons, including having to adhere to a strict low-carb diet. And it can cause some negative side effects.
In this regard, ketone supplements have been thought to provide a “loophole” for athletes who would not normally follow a low-carbohydrate diet. Using this strategy, the athlete eats a balanced diet and uses supplements to get into ketosis, allowing the body to access additional fuel sources. The idea is that the body can switch between fat and carbohydrates as a source of energy, the same way a hybrid car engine switches between gas and electricity.
What did you learn from this exercise study?
Researchers at McMaster University recruited highly trained endurance athletes who cycled at least five hours a week and had “excellent athletic performance.” [was] It’s consistent every day,” according to a press release. science daily. The study was structured as a triple-blind trial, and neither the participants, the researchers who interacted with the participants, nor the researchers who analyzed the data were asked whether they were given a ketone body supplement or a placebo. I didn’t know, which greatly reduced the chance of bias. affect the results.
Participants had to commit to four laboratory visits. First, he assesses the maximum amount of oxygen consumed during peak exercise (VO2 peak), then a proficiency test to learn what the process looks like, and finally he does two experimental phases. Participants were asked to maintain regular nutrition and exercise routines throughout the study and to prepare for cycling competitions as usual.
In the experiment itself, participants participated in two different indoor cycling exercises, 7 days apart, configured to mimic racing conditions. Each individual “race” takes into account other individual variables that can introduce bias, such as bike handlebar and seat configuration, fan speed and position, and more. They also considered energy changes that may affect female participants during different phases of the menstrual cycle, ensuring that the two experimental races were performed during the same phase of the menstrual cycle. The only difference between each race was that “the drink contained either a ketone supplement or a similar-tasting placebo.”
After taking the supplement, participants rested for 30 minutes and had blood drawn to measure blood ketones, glucose, lactate, oxygen and pH levels. Next, they did a 15-minute warm-up of his choice, followed by him doing a 20-minute time trial. strongly correlated It has overall cycling ability at high intensity levels. The only feedback given to the participants was the elapsed time of the “race”.
So, did ketone bodies help?
As a reminder, BHB is a ketone body produced by the liver when glucose levels are low and can be synthesized as a supplement to put the consumer into ketosis.previous research in journal of physiology We suggested that ketone supplementation may improve exercise performance when exercise is performed in a manner that results in specific BHB concentrations of 1–3 mM. In this study, the participant had a BHB level of about 2 mM in her, which is thought to suggest higher performance. But that was not the case at all. The main finding of this study was that the speed that participants were able to sustain during the test was actually decreased after taking the ketone supplement, even when compared to placebo.
The researchers suspect that this is due to how ketone intake affects blood pH balance, heart rate, and fatigue experienced by cyclists during exercise. It is not yet clear how ketone intake and corresponding increases in BHB affect performance in other endurance tests that require longer periods of exercise at moderate to high intensity levels.
Conclusion
More research is needed to fully understand how the body responds to taking ketogenic supplements and how these responses alter a person’s athletic performance. But for now, it’s safe to say that it probably won’t make your workout better, and may even make it worse. Instead, focus on fueling your body with whole foods before, during, and after your workout for the most science-backed benefits.
