Health Farm

-- News that at least six teams competing in this year’s Tour de France are using ketone supplements has brightened the spotlight on ketogenics – an approach to nutrition that follows a low-carb, high-fat diet to put your body into a metabolic state called ketosis.

Ketones are produced when glucose is in short supply. They are made in the liver from the breakdown of fats.

Synthetic ketone supplements, used in conjunction with a low-carb diet, are thought to provide an added energy source that helps preserve glycogen storage, reduce lactic acid, and aid recovery. And that’s pure gold for athletes.

A recent study out of the University of Leuven in Belgium links ketone supplements to a 15% increase in performance for endurance athletes.

Lead researcher Professor Peter Hespel had 16 subjects ride a mini Tour de France while ingesting ketones, and later said that the substance had an “unprecedented effect on recovery”, but the “performance capacity also increases considerably”.

Study participates swallowed a ketone ester and then trained the house down (known in athletic circles as ‘functional overreaching’). Results showed that taking a ketone ester markedly blunted the development of physiological symptoms indicating overreaching – and at the same time significantly enhancing endurance exercise performance.

You’ll be ready to race Le Tour in no time.