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would keep soldiers feeling mentally
sharp and physically strong during
multi-day missions. Darpa’s request
for proposals piqued the interest of
two of the world’s foremost ketosis
researchers: Kieran Clarke, professor
of physiological biochemistry at
Oxford University, and Richard Veech
of the National Institutes of Health in
the US. They were given a $10 million
grant and 12 years later their team
achieved Darpa’s goal – creating a
serum by isolating key molecules from
dismantling, of all things, the bacterial
boogeyman E Coli. They fine-tuned
the potion, testing it first on rodents,
then soldiers. Finally, in March 2015,wealth of ketone-centric research
in several branches of science, from
sports nutrition to neurology and
epigenetics (the science of gene
regulation). Even Nasa is exploring the
use of ketones as a potential fuel for
astronauts on future missions to Mars.
But the story starts inside the body.
Ketones are created by the liver when
the body is forced to use fat for fuel, a
process known as ketosis. Adopting a
high-fat, low-carb diet can kick your
body into ketosis, as can fasting for at
least a day or two. As a form of fuel,
ketones are very efficient. They
release more energy per unit than
glucose and produce, when burned,
far fewer of the damaging free radicals
that accelerate the ageing process.
They also produce zero lactic acid- the byproduct from burning glucose
that can build up during a tough
session and make your muscles feel
tender afterwards.
It’s the reason the keto diet has been
chewed over by athletes and anyone
else looking to hack their energy
systems in pursuit of a PB. However,
even leaving aside the debate on the
long-term health implications of high-
fat, low-carb eating, there’s a more
immediate performance-related issue:
getting to ketosis and acclimatising
to this state can take weeks, during
which time athletic performance
suffers while your body protests
about the lack of carbohydrate intake,
sometimes known as ‘keto f lu’. With
that in mind, it makes sense that
scientists have been trying to synthesise
ketones outside the body to be used as
a standalone energy supplement.
MILITARY PRECISION
That process has eluded researchers
for years. Ketone salts – supplements
created using potassium and sodium- have been around since the 1950s,
but their ability to raise blood ketone
levels is limited, and their use and
palatability debatable, since too much
salt can overwhelm the gut, triggering
nasty side effects such as nausea and
diarrhoea. And raspberry ketone, a
chemical derived from the berry fruit,
which is a popular ingredient in fat-
loss supplements, is something else
altogether. In mice, it stimulates
production of the hormone adiponectin - which can rev up the body’s ability
to break down fat – but has nothing to
do with ketosis and there’s no evidence
for any fat-torching claims in humans.
The breakthrough came in 2003,
when the US military’s research
branch, Darpa (Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency), launched
a programme to develop a fuel that
their ketone ester (organic compound)
- DeltaG – was cleared for use in bars,
gels and drinks. Some 18 months
later, a study about DeltaG caught
the attention of Geoffrey Woo – a
computer scientist who had become
so fascinated with ketones that he’d
started measuring his own using a
personal medical device. A licensing
deal followed and DeltaG became
available exclusively within vials of
HVMN Ketone.
The drink’s potential as an athletic-
performance enhancer comes down to
the fact that the human body can only
store 2,000kcals worth of glycogen. On
a long run, your body burns through PH
OTOGRAPHS:BIWA^/^ GALLERYSTOCKBIG BANG
THEORY
HVMN ketone is
being touted as
a wonder drink
for athletes