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Category: Project

Description: The purposes of this pilot study were to determine 1) if circulating acetoacetate is increased following exogenous beta-hydroxybutyrate salt supplementation (KS) and 2) if any changes in acetoacetate were associated with changes in circulating beta-hydroxybutyrate. Thirteen adults (21.6±4.3 years old; 7 males/6 females) completed this randomized, triple-blinded, placebo-controlled, cross-over design study. Participants consumed either KS or flavor-matched placebo with a one-week washout period between supplements. Plasma acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate levels were measured by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry from blood samples taken before and 30 minutes after consuming each supplement. Consumption of KS resulted in a significant increase in acetoacetate from baseline. The increase in acetoacetate after the KS supplement was significantly greater than that following consumption of a placebo (0.57±0.44 mM vs. 0.07±0.23 mM, p=0.009, d=0.86), and significantly and strongly related to the change in blood beta-hydroxybutyrate (r=0.757, p<0.001). These findings suggest that exogenous beta-hydroxybutyrate from a racemic ketone salt supplement can be readily interconverted to acetoacetate.