Special Diet Can Ease Epileptic Seizures in Kids May 6, 2008
Experts believe that the regimen's high fat and restricted carbohydrate content mimics the biochemical response to starvation, when compounds called ketone bodies (rather than sugar) provide the main source of energy for the brain. Ketone bodies are byproducts produced when fatty acids are broken down for energy in the liver and kidneys ... In the brain, ketone bodies are a crucial source of energy when a person fasts. (MEDLINEplus)
Diet helps keep children seizure-free Feb 2, 2008
The liver then produces ketone bodies, which circulate through the body, including the brain, and become concentrated in the blood, said Amorde-Spalding of Children s Hospital Oakland ... Their urine is tested regularly to ensure that it is concentrated with ketone bodies, indicating they remain in a fat-burning stage. (Albany Democrat-Herald, OR)
Most Effective Weight Loss Diet Revealed, According To New Study Jan 14, 2008
It is known that when people eat low carbohydrate diets, within a relatively short time their body has to switch from using glucose as a fuel to using something different called ketone bodies. Ketone bodies are appetite-suppressing and they may have an effect on the appetite centres in the brain ... In this study, we showed that on the high-protein low-carbohydrate diet the volunteers became ketogenic within 1-2 days of starting this diet and so it may be that high-protein, low-carbohydrate... (Science Daily)
Transporters May Help Delay Diabetes-related Retinal Damage Dec 4, 2007
The transporters, SMCT1 and SMCT2, can circumvent the eye s protective blood-retinal barrier, delivering energy sources lactate and ketone bodies to a healthy eye, says Dr. Pamela Martin, biochemist at the Medical College of Georgia ... Lactate and ketone bodies are substances called monocarboxylates and previously there was no evidence that transporters that typically haul these substances around are elevated in diabetes. (Science Daily)
Can a High-Fat Diet Beat Cancer? Sep 18, 2007
Meanwhile, normal body and brain cells should be able to handle the sugar starvation; they can switch to generating energy from fatty molecules called ketone bodies the body's main source of energy on a fat-rich diet an ability that some or most fast growing and invasive cancers seem to lack. The Wurzburg trial, funded by the Otzberg, Germany based diet food company Tavartis, which supplies the researchers with food packages, is still in its early, difficult stages. (Time.com)
New Tests, Treatments Close in on Alzheimer's Jun 13, 2007
To replace this loss, scientists at Accera have developed a milkshake-like drug called AC-1202 (Ketasyn) that provides glucose-deprived neurons with an alternative energy source, known as ketone bodies. The researchers believe that increasing the availability of ketone bodies will improve memory problems and other functional losses that occur with Alzheimer's. (Health-Finder)
'Starvation Hormone' May Provide Key to Weight Loss Jun 7, 2007
This, and other similar "ketogenic" diets, is founded on the understanding of ketosis - when the body's metabolism switches from carbohydrates to ketone bodies, which are produced from fatty acids that come out of storage in fat tissue and are transferred to the liver. This metabolic state is the same as the one produced when mammals go through periods of fasting, or starvation. (Fox News)
Low-cal ketogenic diet slows brain cancer in mice Mar 30, 2007
A ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that induces excess production of ketone bodies, which are incompletely burned fat molecules ... Blood sugar levels were significantly lower and circulating ketone bodies significantly higher in mice fed the restricted KetoCal diet, the researchers note. (Scientific American)
A sobering thought: don't diet and drive Mar 18, 2007
When this happened, ketone bodies (acetone, acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate) were produced, which could then be converted to a secondary alcohol known as isopropanol, said the lead researcher, Wayne Jones, who is also on Sweden's National Board of Forensic Medicine. Edward Ogden, clinical forensic scientist and senior research fellow at Melbourne's Swinburne University, said it was possible that sober people could blow a false-positive test, however they would not be charged with... (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
More Insight Into Alzheimer's Disease With Discovery Of Possible Cause Nov 23, 2006
-- Ketone bodies are three chemicals that are produced as by-products when fatty acids are broken down for energy. Contrary to what the name "bodies" may suggest, these are soluble compounds, not. (Science Daily)
Fad Foods: Hint: There really aren't any new diets Aug 9, 2006
His breath smelled bad, but he knew that would happen as his body became "ketotic," producing chemicals called ketone bodies (such as acetone, which is what you smell in nail-polish remover) while it adjusted to metabolize large amounts of fat. But like the native people of the Arctic, who live on diets comprised mainly of whale and seal meat and blubber, he knew his body would eventually adjust. (Racine Journal Times, WI)
Answered prayers Jun 25, 2006
In the virtual absence of glucose (or other carbohydrate), the body, and more especially the brain, is able to burn these ketone bodies for energy. The diet is used to control seizures in epileptic children Prayer has experienced up to 175 seizures a day. (Waynesboro Record Herald, PA)
Some try ultra-fat diet May 15, 2006
Some of the benefits result from a shift in the brain's metabolism from blood sugar, the body's main fuel, to ketone bodies, a secondary energy source that is a byproduct of fat metabolism, says Richard Veech, a physician and biochemist with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md ... The liver responds by converting fatty acids into ketone bodies, which normally circulate in the blood at low levels, rising as time passes since a person's most recent meal, when glucose is abundant ...... (USA Today)
High Caloric Diet May Prevent Progression Of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Apr 19, 2006
Because mitochondrial dysfunction plays a central role in neuronal cell death in ALS, the effect that the principal ketone body, DBH, has on mitochondrial ATP generation and neuroprotection were studied. Blood ketones were > 3. (Science Daily)
Study finds a high caloric diet may prevent the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Apr 18, 2006
Because mitochondrial dysfunction plays a central role in neuronal cell death in ALS, the effect that the principal ketone body, D--3 hydroxybutyrate (DBH), has on mitochondrial ATP generation and neuroprotection were studied. Blood ketones were > 3. (EurekAlert!)
