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Drinking ketones improves heart health, a new small-scale study has found. This is the first time people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) have been given a drink with ketone esters—a supplement that is meant to plunge your system into ketosis (a metabolic state where your body is forced to burn fats instead of carbohydrates)—to monitor the effect on the heart. Dr. Maria Perissiou said, "We saw an improvement in cardiac efficiency after the participants had the drink with ketones, compared to a placebo drink." The trial involved 13 participants who were given a drink with ketones, and then a placebo...

Ketone bodies, produced by the body to provide fuel during fasting, have roles in regulating cellular processes and aging mechanisms beyond energy production. Research shows that ketone bodies can best be understood as powerful signaling metabolites affecting brain function in aging and Alzheimer's disease. A new study demonstrates that ketone bodies and similar metabolites have profound effects on the proteome and protein quality control in the brain. Scientists, working on mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and aging, and in the nematode C. elegans, reveal the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate interacts directly with misfolded proteins, altering their solubility and structure so they...

A metabolic by-product that is more prevalent during fasting may supercharge immune cells as they fight infection and disease, reports an early stage study. The findings may pave the way for future personalized dietary recommendations to augment treatments for infection, cancer and other diseases. The findings center on ketone bodies, which are regularly produced by the liver but become more numerous when glucose, a sugar that acts as the main power source for cells, is in short supply. This can occur during exertion such as exercise, when cells are rapidly burning through fuel, or during fasting, when there is little...

A molecule produced during fasting or calorie restriction has anti-aging effects on the vascular system, which could reduce the occurrence and severity of human diseases related to blood vessels, such as cardiovascular disease, according to a study led by Georgia State University. "As people become older, they are more susceptible to disease, like cancer, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Ming-Hui Zou, senior author of the study, director of the Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine at Georgia State and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Molecular Medicine. "Age is the most important so-called risk factor for human...