VATIS UPDATE Article

A drink that provides energy for the body in the form of ketones, rather than sugar or fat, helped competitive cyclists ride farther during a half-hour ride, according to a new study. In the new study, researchers found that when ketones are provided in a drink, the body will use them for muscle fuel. Ketone-powered workouts resulted in less lactate, a byproduct of breaking down sugar that causes muscle cramps and soreness. Ketosis, or production of ketones by the liver, “is a natural response to energy crisis and is of vital importance to us as it allows us to survive ‘insults’ such as starvation and even the first few hours after birth when fuel levels are low,” said lead author Pete J. Cox of the University of Oxford in the UK.

The researchers studied 39 high-level athletes, including former Olympic cyclists, to see how their metabolism changed after consuming the ketone drink and exercising. Ketone uptake in the muscles increased as exercise got more intense. In long-distance workouts, muscles used more ketones as fuel rather than breaking down glucose. But in short bursts of high-intensity work, like sprints, muscles work anaerobically – without oxygen – and can’t use ketones as fuel, since ketones can’t be broken down without oxygen.

To examine athletic performance, eight athletes fasted overnight before completing two bicycle exercise trials of one-hour steady-state cycling and a 30-minute time trial. For one trial, the cyclists drank a carbohydrate drink, and for another they had a drink with carbohydrates and ketones. After the ketone drink, the cyclists traveled an average of 411 meters further in the half-hour time trial than after the carbohydrate drink, as reported in Cell Metabolism. A University of Oxford company is now developing the ketone fuel to be commercially available later this year and the authors of the study may receive royalties from its sale.