Exploring Ketogenic Supplements for Healthy Aging
Our journey through life inevitably leads us to confront the challenges of aging. However, could dietary choices, precisely ketogenic diets, shine a ray of hope in this quest? This proposition traces its roots back to the prognostic use of ketogenic diets over a century ago for diabetes and epilepsy. With time, it has spawned a global ketogenic dietary market worth around $11 billion as of 2022, addressing obesity and the burgeoning type 2 diabetes epidemic. Along the way, ketogenic supplements have emerged as a fascinating tool for potentially enhancing healthy aging. Here, we deep dive into this exciting prospect.
Ketogenic Diets, Supplements, and Healthy Aging
Scientific scrutiny, although in its budding phase, on the value of ketogenic diets and supplements for slowing aging is liberating some promising clues. The essence of this dietary approach is stimulating the body to utilize ketones for energy instead of glucose, a physiological state known as ketosis. Aging often heralds a progressive loss of glucose metabolization efficiency across various tissues, increasing insulin resistance. Ketone bodies may fill this metabolic gap, offering a promising tool against age-related conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and heart failure.
The Link Between Ketones and Frailty
The journey to unravel the potential of ketogenic supplements for life-extending benefits is being spearheaded by the TAKEOFF (Targeting Aging With Ketone Ester in Older Adults for Function in Frailty) study. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this trial focuses on frailty as a key aspect of aging. It aims to understand the long-term impact of ketone ester supplementation, substances the body breaks down into ketones in absence of enough carbohydrates. The fascinating underpinnings tease the notion that frailty, marked by diminished strength, endurance and resilience, might be held at bay by addressing aging mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level through ketones.
Breaking New Ground in Healthy Aging with The BIKE Study
The BIKE (Buck Institute Ketone Ester) study, a trailblazer in evaluating ketone ester supplements for people above 65 years, is undergoing completion. This study serves as a primer for the TAKEOFF trial, providing initial insights into their potential effectiveness. The primary assessment parameter is leg press strength, supplemented by other secondary measures evaluating geriatric and cognitive functions. Additional parameters include quality of life and diverse biomarkers from clinical labs. The context-rich approach extends its vision across different organ systems to explore potential ketogenic supplement impacts, hinting at the broad-spectrum potential these supplements might house.
Ketones: A Potential Ally Against Aging Ailments
The innovative work of Jeff Volek, a professor at the Ohio State University, unveils the anticatabolic impact of ketones on muscle tissues. This could buffer against age-associated muscle loss, improving physical functioning and daily life activities. The path reaches further with the anti-inflammatory potential of ketones, which might alleviate oxidative stress, a root-level cause for heart disease, Alzheimer’s, asthma, and arthritis. As part of the TAKEOFF trial, Volek’s team will assess metabolic changes in muscle cells, offering a deeper insight into this promising correlation.
From Elite Athletes to Everyday Healthy Aging
Formerly studying the effects of ketogenic diets on elite athletes, Jenna Bartley, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut, now explores the hindrances to immune responses and physical function that come with aging. Potential improvements in immune function through ketogenic diets and beta-hydroxybutyrate, a primary ketone body, have drawn significant attention. Trials suggest that T cells have an energy affinity for ketones, and their production could be impaired in acute cases like severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Ketone supplementation could possibly provide a fix for the dysfunctional immune response, characteristic of aging.
A Look Ahead
Ketone ester supplementation, while more accessible and adherable compared to ketogenic diets, has its own drawbacks, notably unpleasant taste and high costs. However, new advances have made these supplements cheaper and palatable.
With these foundations, researchers hope to carry the torch of geroscience by uncovering the molecular mechanisms of frailty and aging. Such studies are expected to illustrate the functional biology of ketone bodies in an ever-widening clinical application scope, potentially elevating life quality, healthspan and extending life.
Key Points
- There have been recent resurgences of interest in ketogenic diets for their possible benefits in healthy aging.
- The TAKEOFF and BIKE studies are pioneering initiatives to understand the long-term effects of ketogenic supplements on aging, particularly focusing on frailty.
- Ketone bodies might potentially compensate for the reduced glucose metabolism efficiency that characterizes aging, thereby enhancing aging tissue functionality.
- Ketones’ anti-inflammatory capabilities can combat age-related challenges like muscle loss and oxidative stress-derived ailments.
- Ketone supplementation could be an enabler for improved immune function in elderly populations.
Source Citation: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/996794
