A Futuristic Energy Drink Uses Ketones To Push Athletes To Their Full Potential

A new type of energy drink is taking energy boosting far beyond caffeine or other typical carb and sugar loaded products to fuel athletes for longer sustainable during exercise.

A team of researchers led by Pete J. Cox of the University of Oxford in the UK, took a different approach to energy, and the human body, to replicate an internal natural process known as ketosis, and bottled it, according to Reuters’ report of the recently published study.

“[Ketosis] is “is a natural response to energy crisis and is of vital importance to us as it allows us to survive ‘insults’ such as starvation and even the first few hours after birth when fuel levels are low,” said lead author Pete J. Cox of the University of Oxford in the UK.

When the body is in “starvation mode”, it is past the point of converting carbohydrates and sugars into energy, and naturally relies on ketones – fat stores converted by the liver to produce fuel.

Ketone: A chemical substances that the body makes when it does not have enough insulin in the blood. When ketones build up in the body for a long time, serious illness or coma can result. 

Researchers of this new study found that when ingested via a drink, the body will use ketones for muscle fuel, with reduced lactation which means less cramping and soreness.

39 high-level athletes, including former Olympic cyclists, were tested by researchers, to monitor changes in metabolism after ketone consumption during rigorous physical exercise.

In order to measure ketone-powered athletic performance, 8 cyclists fasted the night before testing. Once they woke up the next day, aside from their hunger pains, they each had to complete two bicycle exercise trials of one-hour steady-state cycling and a 30-minute time trial. During the first trial, the cyclists drank a carbohydrate drink, and for the second trial, cyclists ingested a drink with carbohydrates and ketones.

The results from the cyclists after ketone consumption, according to Cell Metabolism, were that cyclists traveled an average of 411 meters further during the 30 minute trial than they did after consuming the carbohydrate-rich drink.

Findings of this new study could prove to be just the type of breakthrough in energy drinks that above-average athletes worldwide have been looking for.

Considering the fact that most people won’t ever exceed the threshold of exercise that a future Olympian might undergo, this soon-to-be product could spell millions in royalties to the doctors who created it – once they work out terms, of course.

For many of us, the Olympics is not on our radar, as we simply seek a good work-life balance. Still reigning supreme in remedies for good health and physical shape are healthy diet and exercise… there is still no getting around that.

See the full study here.