At its simplest, a ketogenic diet is a very low carbohydrate, high fat, moderate protein diet. The purpose of following a ketogenic diet is to put the body into a state of ketosis where the body relies on burning fat for fuel instead of sugar. See, the body has two major fuels - sugar or fat. Today, most people exist primarily in the sugar-burning state due to constant access to food and high carbohydrate diets. Carbohydrates are broken down in the body to glucose, and it is this glucose that is used by our cells as fuel. Turns out that although glucose is essential to survival, carbohydrates ..read more

    Little research has addressed whether age and gender impact how the body may respond to exogenous ketones, until now. Our latest manuscript focused on a project examining this important and neglected topic. There are telling signs in the literature dating back to the 1970s suggesting that women and men may respond differently to a metabolic intervention and that this may be further modulated by age. For example, women experienced a more rapid increase in blood ketones and decrease in blood sugar during a short-term fast, compared to men. Studies on animal models also h ..read more

    When it comes to delicious snacks, jerky is one of the most popular choices out there. With most of us spending more time at home, you can discover how to make almost anything from scratch if you put your mind to it. Thanks to its high protein and mineral content, jerky is not only tasty, but it’s also a healthy alternative to some other snacks.  Read on to learn more about jerky and how you can make your very own at home. What is Jerky? Jerky is a snack made of meat with lots of healthy nutrients and protein. This delicious snack is made from a var ..read more

Caffeine is one of, if not the most popular drug used in America, consumed by over 80% of US adults. As a result, it is also an extremely well-studied compound. Most caffeine is consumed as coffee; however, caffeine is also found in chocolate, soft drinks, energy drinks, sports supplements, and more recently, ketone supplements. In this article, we discuss:  The synergy of caffeine and ketosis Additional benefits of caffeine Caffeine doses found in supplements/ketone supplements and dangers of too much Dangers of caffeine for children A brief background on caffeine metabol ..read more

Exogenous ketones are gaining more attention as scientific research continues to support their use in improving human health. They are popular supplements to take alongside a ketogenic diet, to improve athletic performance, to induce therapeutic ketosis without the need to change your diet, or just to improve quality of life! The most widely available ketone supplements fall into the category of "ketone salts." A ketone salt is a ketone body (beta-hydroxybutyrate; BHB) bound to an electrolyte, most commonly, sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg), often made in a balance ..read more

As ketogenic diets have grown in popularity the number of "keto" products hitting the shelves are increasing as well. Some of  these products are exogenous ketone supplements. While this is great news because research continues to support their applications for therapeutic and general health purposes, it has also introduced products that do not exactly work the way they are supposed to. With so many options out there, knowing which to choose can be overwhelming and complicated. Over the years we have experimented with most, if not all, commercially available exogenous ketone supplement f ..read more

Research continues to support the therapeutic potential of ketogenic diets for a growing list of conditions ranging from obesity and type-2 diabetes to neurological disorders, and cancer. Almost every day it seems like a new study is added to the diet’s repertoire of benefits; benefits that are often attributed to ketone bodies themselves. But the reality is, ketogenic diets aren’t always easy to follow, and adherence is a major barrier that prevents the ketogenic diet from reaching its full potential. The idea of achieving ketosis without having to make dietary changes has led to the develop ..read more

Last month a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine gained a lot of attention  on social media, even catching the eyes of larger news outlets, like the New York Times and CNBC.  The study was designed to test the effects of time-restricted eating (TRE*) on weight loss and metabolic health in patients with overweight and obesity. TRE is a form of daily intermittent fasting that restricts food intake to 12-hours or less.   In this particular study, the popular "16/8" schedule was used, meaning participants were to eat within an 8-hour window and f ..read more

Oxidative Pathways of Alcohol Written by: Dr. Nicholas Mencer, DO, Dr. Dominic D’Agostino, PhD, and Kristi Storoschuk From a glass of champagne on New Year’s Eve, to a beer while watching America’s favorite pastime, to going out with friends after a long day of work, alcoholic beverages have long been a drink of choice of the American Culture. Alcohol culture in America has even survived illegalization during the 1920-1933 prohibition. Despite its establishment in American Culture, its use (or overconsumption) has many deleterious consequences that have been well established, such as liver ci ..read more

Dr. Csilla Ari D`Agostino exiting the Aquarius habitat to perform cognitive tests on the waterproofed iPad As many of you know our team participated in the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 23 during the summer of 2019. In the upcoming blog posts we will give a little insight into some of the research objectives and preliminary results that were recently published in The Faseb Journal. In the first blog post we will discuss some of the results of Ari et al. 2020 on individual and team cognition in high stress underwater saturation environment under intense workload. The objective of ..read more