What Is Ketosis

Ketosis occurs when liver glycogen gets depleted and the body burns fatty acids for fuel. The primary driver of this state is a very low carbohydrate intake. Often, it also requires a low protein, higher fat intake. You can also achieve a state of ketosis by not eating altogether. The creation of ketones is a byproduct of this metabolic state. Ketones are a source of fuel, just as glucose is a source of fuel. Ketones tend to have some added benefits, though.

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What Role Does Ketosis Play In Human Health?

Ketosis allows our bodies to function in the absence of carbohydrates, both physically and mentally. Instead of burning carbohydrates, or converting protein to glucose, the body burns ketones. This is pretty much a survival mechanism. It allows your body to function in a state of caloric deprivation. This is why ketosis often gets bad press (as it’s linked to “starvation”). Being a survival mechanism doesn’t make it invalid as a strategy, though. There can still be potential benefits to be had. Let’s cover a few of them.

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Ketosis And Accelerated Fat Loss

Being in ketosis has a positive effect on hormone regulation. Namely, blood sugar regulation. Think about someone who eats whole grains at every meal, throws down a Naked Juice, and caps dinner off with a Weight Watchers ice cream bar. What you’re seeing is a person who is on a blood sugar roller coaster. These blood sugar spikes trigger both fat storage and future hunger. The fat storage is due to the hyper-caloric environment this type of eating tends to put people in. The insulin dysregulation causes constant hunger and cravings. Now imagine a person who is avoiding carbohydrates, keeping protein to moderate levels, and getting adequate levels of fat. Assuming they’re eating quality foods, they’re getting all the micronutrients they need. Assuming they’re also eating enough calories, they’re not starving themselves. The diet is meeting their needs and their blood sugar is remaining very stable in the process. Following this high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate model can induce ketosis. Your body’s main interest is to create the ketones it can use for fuel in the absence of glucose. In other words, your body’s main interest is to burn fat. What’s interesting is that research shows that ketosis reduces body fat to a far better degree than restricting calories. In children, at least (but there are other studies that reflect the same findings in adults).

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Ketosis, Disease Treatment, And Health

Besides turning on your fat burning furnace, dipping into ketosis may be beneficial for health and disease treatment. One of the most interesting areas of study has to do with ketosis and starving cancer cells. Many cancers feeds on glucose, which leads to the obvious question, “What happens when you take away the glucose?” For normal cells, they switch to using ketones for fuel as we discussed earlier. But there are studies that show cancer does not have the ability to use ketones for fuel, thus they starve: “Your normal cells have the metabolic flexibility to adapt from using glucose to using ketone bodies. But cancer cells lack this metabolic flexibility. So we can exploit that,” Dr. D’Agostino explained. Another area where ketogenic diets are being heavily tested is in the treatment of Diabetes. Both Type I and Type II diabetics seem to respond very well to being in ketosis. Keep in mind this is separate from the condition of ketoacidosis, a dangerous condition for Type 1 diabetics.

There are dozens of studies targeting the treatment of a range of health issues using ketogenic diets. I can’t cover them all here, but I’ll give you three more: ketogenic diets have shown to be beneficial for those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Epilepsy. This appears to be due to the neuroprotective nature of ketosis, it’s ability to slow or halt cellular death, and it’s positive effects on inflammation.

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Ketosis And Improved Focus And Brain Function

One of the mechanisms that causes so many brain issues – seizures, migraines, bipolar, ALS, dementia – is neurotoxicity. One cause of neurotoxicity is too much glucose. So, by reducing the glucose supply and asking the brain to burn ketones for fuel, a leveling out of sorts occurs. There’s another byproduct of all this. Brain function. How clearly you focus, think, and recall information. Ketogenic diets improve brain function through the mechanism of clean fuel production. It appears that ketones are a more efficient and cleaner form of fuel for the brain than glucose. How so? To explain, we need to talk about mitochondria, the workhorses of your cells. ATP powers these mitochondria. ATP can be made from glucose or ketones. When ATP is made from glucose, free radicals are a byproduct. Free radicals are those pesky things that cause cellular damage and eventual disease.

ATP production from ketones is much cleaner, producing less of these free radicals. What if your car’s engine was running on a mixture of gasoline and sugar? You wouldn’t be getting optimal function. Remove that excess glucose and you’re left with clean burning fuel. Things start to improve, even if there’s prior damage.

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Ketosis And Satiety

I’ve said before that it’s possible to make the switch from being a “sugar burner” to a “fat burner.” That’s an oversimplified description, but I still don’t see anything wrong with it. What we’re talking about here is how your metabolic state can shift to rely on glucose. This can happen through years or decades of ingesting far more glucose than your body needs. So, what happens when you remove or reduce glucose intake from a person who is “sugar-adapted?” Well, they hate life for about three weeks because their cells are inefficient at using fat for fuel in the absence of glucose. But, what happens after this period of time if you stick it out? You can become what’s called keto-adapted. This is where your body “switches” and becomes more efficient at using fat to run your body’s systems. This doesn’t mean you should be in ketosis your entire life. What I’m saying is that your body should have the ability to use both ketones and glucose for fuel, seamlessly switching between the two. As a sugar burner, you’ve got one source to choose from: glucose. When your metabolism is fully functional, you’ve got two sources to choose from. Best of all, when your body doesn’t need glucose, you enjoy steadier energy levels. You’re not hunting for snacks and more food at all times. Your body isn’t threatening to pass out because you forgot to bring change for the vending machine.

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Ketosis And Performance

The last aspect of ketosis is how it affects performance. You might assume that ketosis sucks for performance because Lucozade has sent you an opposing message your entire life. They say that if you want to perform well, you need to ingest glucose-water. And that may be true if you’re a helpless, sugar-adapted human. But what about those of us who have no trouble burning fat? Is it possible that I can be the all-star on my flag football or ultimate frisbee team if I start the day off with bacon and eggs? And if I hydrate with nothing more than good old-fashioned water? This study on gymnasts says that you can perform pretty darn well in a ketogenic state. Another study shows that ketogenic diets have no negative effect on endurance performance or recovery. Then there’s this video of Dr. Peter Attia doing demanding work in a state of ketosis and he looks like he’s handling it pretty well. There’s also this write up he did about low-carb and performance.

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What’s Next?

There’s a lot of evidence that points to ketosis being a great thing to experiment with. However, I think balance and understanding context is really important as well. I am not at all a fan of the current ketogenic fad that suggests being in a permanent state of ketosis.

Not only does ketosis have some potential downsides, but it tends to require a lot of focus and obsession to achieve and maintain.

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 All content displayed here is provided for general information purposes only, and should not be treated as a substitute for advice given by your GP or any other healthcare professional.

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