MAY 2019 RUNNERSWORLD.COM/UK 057

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body of research^ into^ ketone^ supplements.

Could it be

the (^) start (^) of
a revolution
in (^) sports (^) nu
trition?
SOME JOBS
IN THIS WORLD
REQUIRE
BOTTOMLESS
RESERVES OF
STAMINA.
Serving in the army, farming in
Siberia...parenting a toddler. Mine is
a 14-month-old human tornado hell-
bent on wholly depleting my energy
sources. Churning out eight-minute
miles isn’t the breeze it used to be. So
it’s in search of a way to elevate my
runs to their former glory that I find
myself, one sunny San Francisco day,
pricking my left index finger with a
medical-grade device typically used
by people with diabetes, measuring my
blood for a compound called ketone.
I’m part of a human guinea pig
experiment, one of the first 5,000
users of HVMN Ketone. It’s a new
energy drink that, if you believe its
creators, is set to turn the world of
sports nutrition on its head. Derived
from a formula initially manufactured
to fuel soldiers in the US army, the
120kcal, 65ml vial promises to elevate
athletic performance by delivering
your body a dose of ketones. It was
formerly only created within the
human body (as a fuel produced when
there are no carbs to burn, so the
body breaks down fat for energy), but
scientists have found a way to produce
ketones in the lab. These compounds
are being considered by many sports
nutrition researchers and a growing
number of endurance athletes as a
more efficient fuel than glucose; so
game-changing are ketones that
HVMN founder Geoffrey Woo calls
them ‘the fourth macro’ – as crucial
as the recognised macronutrients:
fats, proteins and carbohydrates.
‘I think there’ll be a fourth line on
nutrition labels someday that reads,
“total ketone content”’, Woo tells me
when I visit him at his San Francisco
office. He has the air of a man who’s
abundantly sure of himself, or he’s
a very good salesman, or, perhaps,
both. It’s a grandiose claim from
someone without medical, nutrition
or biochemistry training. But the
science may just be on his side.
If the ‘keto’ prefix sounds familiar,
that’s because it is. The launch of
HVMN Ketone has coincided with the
rise of the keto diet, and with it a
KETONES
Kriste
n Ma
scia (^) ta
stes (^) th
e (^) futu
re (^) for
RW