DRINKStuff SA | New ketonic beverage holds multiple potential health benefits

07 Dec 2012 New ketonic beverage holds multiple potential health benefits

Posted at 14:11h in Health & Nutrition by Brenda 0 Comments

Led by Keiran Clarke, head of the British university’s Cardiac Metabolism Research Group and a professor of biochemistry, the researchers discovered that they were able to create ketones, which are produced by the body naturally.

Ketone a natural source of energy that the body generates when it is lacking carbohydrates, similar to what occurs on diets such as the Atkin’s Diet. These ketones are produced when the liver starts processing the fat stores within the body. The release of the stored glycogen is then turned into energy by the liver, which then causes the blood sugar levels in the body to reduce.

The research was sparked by a request from the United States Army, noted that ketones become more prevalent in the days after a long fasting period. The hope is that this drink can be added to a normal diet and will supply enough ketones that the fasting period won’t be necessary.

It’s a radical new approach, which flies in the face of more than 30 years of advice that a low-fat diet with lots of carbohydrates is the best way to lose weight, treat diabetes and protect the heart. It also raises questions about the demonising of diets such as Atkins, which are blamed for causing constipation and kidney failure.

Following several trials on lab animals, Clarke and his researchers recently completed their first trial with human patients. The eight participants had all been diagnosed with diabetes and were given three ketone-based beverages to drink for seven days.

The research from that trial, which mimicked results from an earlier trial with rodent subjects, showed that the human patients lost weight and saw noticeable reductions in the cholesterol, fat, and glucose levels. Energy levels rose and made patients more inclined to participate in physical activities such as exercise.

Based on this research, Clarke notes, it is entirely possible that the ketone-based drink could be used to fight several weight-related diseases, such as diabetes.

“We are very excited about our research, which we think shows great promise. Our primary interest so far has been to understand how the body’s metabolism responds and makes use of our ketone drink.

“We are a long way yet from showing meaningful benefits as a treatment for disease or in aiding athletes’ endurance, and while we think it is possible that the ketone drink may have benefits in slowing Alzheimer’s progression, no one has done much research on this as yet… although this remains of great interest to us.”

So much interest, in fact, that Clarke has filed a US patent for his beverage.

The drink, as yet unnamed, has possibilities to: