2019-05-01_Runners_World_UK

(Jacob Rumans) #1

058 RUNNERSWORLD.COM/UK MAY 2019


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


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THEORY


HVMN ketone is
being touted as
a wonder drink
for athletes
Free download pdf