Science Journal

Why is Ketone a Better Fuel than Glucose

My best friend suggested to me a Facebook page for people who want to lose weight. She is also a part of that community and she told me that their weight loss program is effective because she applied their practices and she successfully shed some fats. So, I joined and tried their diet -- keto-diet or a low-carb diet. Their diet requires the members to eat fewer carbs at least 20 grams in a day and fast intermittently for faster results. Gladly, after 3 months of suffering, I lose 10 kilograms. Then the founder of that page posted a video related to a keto diet. I've watched it and I learned that keto is a better fuel than glucose which is consumed from high-carb foods. Since I am dubious I researched online if what the doctor was saying in that video is true. And it is. 

This is what I learned. We all know that our body needs fuel to keep moving and keep functioning properly. So we consume foods that contain proteins, fats and carbohydrates. These ingested compounds are converted into energy that our body utilized. 

Majority of us follow carb-diet because most of the foods we are eating this modern era are added with sugar and starch. We get carbohydrates from bread, rice, oats, wheat, junk foods, starchy fruits like apple and orange, etc. Once ingested, our body breaks carbohydrates into glucose. Glucose is either immediately used by our vital organs especially our voracious brain. Or glucose will be stored as glycogen in liver and muscle tissue when not used. When consuming high-carb food our blood sugar increases that stimulate our pancreas to produce a hormone, insulin. Insulin is responsible for lowering our blood sugar level. It tells our body to assimilate glucose from the bloodstream. It gives access to the glucose to enter our body cells even fat cells. These cells used this glucose as energy but the excess is stored in the liver as glycogen. But when blood sugar drops, the pancreas releases glucagon. This hormone will instruct the liver to convert glycogen into glucose to feed the hungry vital organs. However, when glycogen is depleted ketogenesis occurs.

Thankfully, our body has a back-up energy source when all glucose is used. Our ancestors usually undergo ketosis because they do not eat three times a day and they must hunt first before eating so they fast and exercise more. Ketosis, by the way, is a natural metabolic state wherein the ketone level goes up and acts as an alternative fuel due to a lack of carbohydrates to maintain brain functionality.

So when glycogens are all used, the fatty acids that are consumed from dietary fat will go the liver and become a ketone. Ketone is more efficient than glucose in providing energy. The powerhouse of the cell, mitochondria makes more energy-provider ATP (adenosine Triphosphate) from ketone than glucose. Thus, efficiently restore membranes in the brain to their normal states. Also, ketone produces fewer destructive leftovers, free radicals. Free radicals are unstable atoms that can damage cells causing illness, cancer or aging.

There are three types of ketones: Hydroxybutyrate (BHB), acetoacetate, acetone. Acetoacetate is the first ketone the liver produces but reduced into BHB and acetone. BHB is the most abundant ketone, consisting of 78% of our ketone body pool while acetone makes up 2% of the ketones in our bloodstream. The extra BHB is excreted from urine whereas acetone is breathed out because it is volatile.

Moreover, ketone can reduce epileptic seizures. Seizures happen when there is an excess major excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate. So, the ketone, acetate will be converted into glutamine then become a GABA. Gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter that inhibits certain communication between nerve cells in the brain thereby decreasing the activity of brain cells and the central nervous system. High level of GABA makes us relax, reduce stress, calm, alleviate pain, help us sleep well and lower the chance of having a seizure. 

It seems that our body still prefers a low-carb diet or undergo keto state because of our great great great great grandparents usually go to that kind of state for survival. And ketone is efficient in providing energy so we could still have the energy to hunt for food. But when a sweet addictive compound we called sugars are mixed into our foods, we consumed it voraciously and consequently, gain a lot of illnesses such as diabetes, heart attack, and obesity.