A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance

Ketone bodies are the most energy efficient fuel, yielding more ATP per mole of substrate than pyruvate and increasing the free energy released from ATP hydrolysis. Elevation of circulating ketones via high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets has been used for the treatment of drug-refractory epilepsy and f...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Murray, Andrew J., Knight, Nicholas S., Cole, Mark A., Cochlin, Lowri E., Carter, Emma, Tchabanenko, Kirill, Pichulik, Tica, Gulston, Melanie K., Atherton, Helen J., Schroeder, Marie A., Deacon, Robert M. J., Kashiwaya, Yoshihiro, King, M. Todd, Pawlosky, Robert, Rawlins, J. Nicholas P., Tyler, Damian J., Griffin, Julian L., Robertson, Jeremy, Veech, Richard L., Clarke, Kieran
Format: Article
Published: Federation of American Society of Experimental Biology 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35911/
_version_ 1848795189357838336
author Murray, Andrew J.
Knight, Nicholas S.
Cole, Mark A.
Cochlin, Lowri E.
Carter, Emma
Tchabanenko, Kirill
Pichulik, Tica
Gulston, Melanie K.
Atherton, Helen J.
Schroeder, Marie A.
Deacon, Robert M. J.
Kashiwaya, Yoshihiro
King, M. Todd
Pawlosky, Robert
Rawlins, J. Nicholas P.
Tyler, Damian J.
Griffin, Julian L.
Robertson, Jeremy
Veech, Richard L.
Clarke, Kieran
author_facet Murray, Andrew J.
Knight, Nicholas S.
Cole, Mark A.
Cochlin, Lowri E.
Carter, Emma
Tchabanenko, Kirill
Pichulik, Tica
Gulston, Melanie K.
Atherton, Helen J.
Schroeder, Marie A.
Deacon, Robert M. J.
Kashiwaya, Yoshihiro
King, M. Todd
Pawlosky, Robert
Rawlins, J. Nicholas P.
Tyler, Damian J.
Griffin, Julian L.
Robertson, Jeremy
Veech, Richard L.
Clarke, Kieran
author_sort Murray, Andrew J.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Ketone bodies are the most energy efficient fuel, yielding more ATP per mole of substrate than pyruvate and increasing the free energy released from ATP hydrolysis. Elevation of circulating ketones via high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets has been used for the treatment of drug-refractory epilepsy and for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. Ketones may also be beneficial for muscle and brain in times of stress, such as endurance exercise. The challenge has been to raise circulating ketone levels using a palatable diet without altering lipid levels. We found that blood ketone levels can be increased, and cholesterol and triglycerides decreased, by feeding rats a novel ketone ester diet; chow supplemented with (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate as 30% of calories. For five days, rats on the ketone diet ran 32% further on a treadmill than control rats eating an isocaloric diet supplemented with either corn starch or palm oil (p<0.05). Ketone-fed rats completed an eight-arm radial maze test 38% faster than those on the other diets, making more correct decisions before making a mistake (p<0.05). Isolated, perfused hearts from rats fed the ketone diet had greater free energy available from ATP hydrolysis during increased work than hearts from rats on the other diets, as shown using 31P-NMR spectroscopy. The novel ketone diet therefore improved physical performance and cognitive function in rats, and its energy-sparing properties suggest that it may help to treat a range of human conditions with metabolic abnormalities.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:28:08Z
format Article
id nottingham-35911
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:28:08Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Federation of American Society of Experimental Biology
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-359112024-08-15T15:20:09Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35911/ A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance Murray, Andrew J. Knight, Nicholas S. Cole, Mark A. Cochlin, Lowri E. Carter, Emma Tchabanenko, Kirill Pichulik, Tica Gulston, Melanie K. Atherton, Helen J. Schroeder, Marie A. Deacon, Robert M. J. Kashiwaya, Yoshihiro King, M. Todd Pawlosky, Robert Rawlins, J. Nicholas P. Tyler, Damian J. Griffin, Julian L. Robertson, Jeremy Veech, Richard L. Clarke, Kieran Ketone bodies are the most energy efficient fuel, yielding more ATP per mole of substrate than pyruvate and increasing the free energy released from ATP hydrolysis. Elevation of circulating ketones via high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets has been used for the treatment of drug-refractory epilepsy and for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. Ketones may also be beneficial for muscle and brain in times of stress, such as endurance exercise. The challenge has been to raise circulating ketone levels using a palatable diet without altering lipid levels. We found that blood ketone levels can be increased, and cholesterol and triglycerides decreased, by feeding rats a novel ketone ester diet; chow supplemented with (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate as 30% of calories. For five days, rats on the ketone diet ran 32% further on a treadmill than control rats eating an isocaloric diet supplemented with either corn starch or palm oil (p<0.05). Ketone-fed rats completed an eight-arm radial maze test 38% faster than those on the other diets, making more correct decisions before making a mistake (p<0.05). Isolated, perfused hearts from rats fed the ketone diet had greater free energy available from ATP hydrolysis during increased work than hearts from rats on the other diets, as shown using 31P-NMR spectroscopy. The novel ketone diet therefore improved physical performance and cognitive function in rats, and its energy-sparing properties suggest that it may help to treat a range of human conditions with metabolic abnormalities. Federation of American Society of Experimental Biology 2016-09-26 Article PeerReviewed Murray, Andrew J., Knight, Nicholas S., Cole, Mark A., Cochlin, Lowri E., Carter, Emma, Tchabanenko, Kirill, Pichulik, Tica, Gulston, Melanie K., Atherton, Helen J., Schroeder, Marie A., Deacon, Robert M. J., Kashiwaya, Yoshihiro, King, M. Todd, Pawlosky, Robert, Rawlins, J. Nicholas P., Tyler, Damian J., Griffin, Julian L., Robertson, Jeremy, Veech, Richard L. and Clarke, Kieran (2016) A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance. FASEB Journal . ISSN 1530-6860 Metabolism muscle energetics exercise heart http://www.fasebj.org/content/early/2016/08/15/fj.201600773R doi:10.1096/fj.201600773R doi:10.1096/fj.201600773R
spellingShingle Metabolism
muscle
energetics
exercise
heart
Murray, Andrew J.
Knight, Nicholas S.
Cole, Mark A.
Cochlin, Lowri E.
Carter, Emma
Tchabanenko, Kirill
Pichulik, Tica
Gulston, Melanie K.
Atherton, Helen J.
Schroeder, Marie A.
Deacon, Robert M. J.
Kashiwaya, Yoshihiro
King, M. Todd
Pawlosky, Robert
Rawlins, J. Nicholas P.
Tyler, Damian J.
Griffin, Julian L.
Robertson, Jeremy
Veech, Richard L.
Clarke, Kieran
A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance
title A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance
title_full A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance
title_fullStr A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance
title_full_unstemmed A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance
title_short A novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance
title_sort novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance
topic Metabolism
muscle
energetics
exercise
heart
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35911/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35911/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35911/