New findings suggest that ketone supplements can have a significant impact on alcohol consumption and alcohol craving. This research International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacologyfound that ketone supplements not only reduce breath and blood alcohol concentrations, but also reduce the subjective attractiveness of alcohol.
The ketogenic diet has received a lot of attention not only for its weight loss effects, but also for its potential therapeutic effects on a variety of health conditions. Essentially, a ketogenic diet is high in fat, moderate in protein, and very low in carbohydrates. By drastically reducing your carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat, your body is pushed into a metabolic state known as ketosis.
In this state, the body converts fat into ketone bodies in the liver to provide energy to the brain. Ketones are three water-soluble molecules (acetone, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate) that are produced as byproducts when fatty acids are broken down for energy. This metabolic process is a natural response to food deprivation and allows the body to use stored fat as its main source of energy.
The motivation behind the current study stems from the sobering statistics regarding alcohol use disorder (AUD) and its widespread impact in the United States, where a significant portion of the population engages in binge drinking and exhibits the criteria for AUD. I am. Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with a myriad of health risks, including increased reckless behavior, decreased cognitive function, liver disease, and various cancers, and is a leading cause of preventable death.
Previous studies have highlighted the potential for nutritional ketosis induced by either a ketogenic diet or exogenous ketone supplements to alleviate alcohol withdrawal symptoms and reduce alcohol craving and consumption. In a new study, researchers sought to better understand how the intake of exogenous ketone bodies (supplements) affects physiological and subjective responses to alcohol consumption.
“we found previously “We found that a ketogenic diet intervention reduced alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol craving in patients with AUD during alcohol detoxification treatment, and that a ketogenic diet reduced alcohol consumption in animal models,” study authors said. Corinde E. Veersassistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Ketogenic diets are difficult to maintain, so we are investigating the use of ketone supplements (Kenetik) to treat alcohol use disorder. Ketone supplements and alcohol require similar enzymes in the liver to break down. We wanted to understand how people react to alcohol after taking ketone supplements. Surprisingly, when combined with ketone bodies, the same amount of alcohol intake lowers blood and breath concentrations. There was a significant drop in alcohol preference and desire to drink.”
The study was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and was structured as a single-blind crossover trial, with each participant serving as their own control by taking both a ketone supplement and a placebo in random order over two visits. Now it looks like this. .
Participants were carefully selected to include healthy individuals between the ages of 21 and 50 who had consumed alcohol at least once in the past month. The study identified people with serious medical conditions, psychiatric or substance use disorders (other than nicotine or cannabis), pregnant or breastfeeding women, people over a certain weight threshold, and people with baseline breath alcohol concentrations above 0.00%. people were excluded. This resulted in a cohort of 10 participants who completed the study.
At each study visit, participants were asked to arrive after an overnight fast and provided with a standardized meal. Approximately 1 hour after meal intake, ketone body supplements or a placebo were taken, and alcohol was taken orally 30 minutes later.
The ketogenic drink contained ketones and the low-calorie sweetener allulose, whereas the placebo consisted of a non-ketogenic sweet-sour mixture. In order to standardize alcohol exposure across participants, alcohol doses were adjusted according to body weight and gender, targeting a specific breath alcohol concentration (0.05%).
Researchers observed significant reductions in both breath and blood alcohol concentrations (BrAC and BAL) after taking ketone supplements compared to placebo. This indicates that ketone body supplements can weaken the physiological presence of alcohol in the body.
Participants subjectively reported a decrease in liking and craving for alcohol and an increase in alcohol aversion after taking the ketone supplement, suggesting that this supplement may alter the beneficial effects of alcohol. Suggests.
In addition to these main results, the study also noted changes in blood sugar and ketone body levels, providing insight into the metabolic effects of ketone body supplements. After taking ketone body supplements, blood sugar levels decreased significantly, but ketone levels increased, reinforcing the metabolic shift induced by the supplement.
The results of this study suggest that “combining ketone supplements with alcohol reduces alcohol intoxication and reduces tipsiness.” “We need to better understand whether supplements slow the absorption of alcohol in the stomach, increase the metabolism of alcohol in the liver, or both,” Weiers told PsyPost.
Alongside the human studies, the researchers conducted studies in rodents. This study involved a total of eight Wistar rats, evenly divided by gender. Each rat received one of three treatments by oral gavage of a dose of ketone supplement, allulose, or water (which served as a control). Thirty minutes after this administration, rats were given alcohol orally. This simulates alcohol challenge in human studies, but was adjusted for physiological differences between species.
Unlike humans, where ketone body supplements produced large changes in alcohol sensitivity and subjective responses, the rodent studies focused on physiological indicators of BAL, blood glucose, and ketone body levels. Results showed that at several time points after alcohol administration, ketone supplements significantly decreased BAL compared to both water and allulose treatments.
Of note, this study found no significant effect of allulose treatment on BAL, indicating that the observed reduction in alcohol levels was specifically attributable to the ketone supplement rather than the sweetener component. Furthermore, this study reported a significant increase in blood β-hydroxybutyrate levels after ketone administration, confirming the effectiveness of the supplement in inducing ketosis in rodents.
“We previously found that rats fed a 6-week ketogenic diet did not tolerate alcohol well. Rats fed a ketogenic diet and rats fed a control diet were unable to tolerate normal chow. “The rats had six times higher blood alcohol levels than the rats that were given the same amount of alcohol,” Weiers said. “We wondered whether acute doses of ketone supplements would also affect blood and breath alcohol concentrations. With ketone supplements, we found just the opposite effect (lower breath and blood alcohol concentrations in both humans and rats), which was quite a surprise to us. Ketogenic diets and ketone supplements have different effects on alcohol metabolism. ”
Limitations of this study include the small sample size and focus on healthy volunteers rather than patients with AUD. Additionally, the placebo and ketone supplements were not calorically matched, and the unpleasant taste of the ketone supplements may have influenced the subjective response to alcohol.
In the current study, “we gave very little alcohol,” Weiers noted. “We are currently recruiting for a new study in which social drinkers are given three different meals for 3.5 days: (1) a ketogenic diet, (2) a control diet, and (3) a breakfast-lunch and pre-dinner control. Diet + Ketone Supplements. We raise the alcohol concentration to approximately 0.08% (legal drinking limit), allowing us to also assess the impact of ketosis (diet and supplements) on alcohol-induced cognitive impairment.”
“Long-term goals are to develop ketone therapy for people with alcohol use disorder (reduce withdrawal symptoms and reduce alcohol consumption), improve brain energy, and reduce alcohol intake in outpatient and inpatient settings. /Reducing withdrawal.Example: Mahajan, 2021. Current research may suggest that ketone drinks may help the sober drinking culture. ”
the study, “Ketone supplementation attenuates subjective and objective responses to alcohol: evidence from preclinical studies in rats and a randomized crossover trial in healthy volunteers.” is written by Xinyi Li, Zhenhao Shi, Dustin R. Todaro, Timothy Pond, Juliana I Byanyima, Sianneh A. Vesslee, Rishika Reddy, Ravi Prakash Reddy Nanga, Gabriel Kass, Vijay Ramchandani, Henry R. Kranzler, Janaina CM Vendruscolo , Leandro F. Vendruscolo, Colinde E. Veers
