“The FDA may see ketones as a drug. I see them as a fourth macronutrient. You have fats, proteins, and carbs. Ketones are an energy-containing molecule.” – Dom D’Agostino
Dr. Dominic “Dom” D’Agostino (@DominicDAgosti2) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, and a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC).
He has also deadlifted 500 pounds for 10 reps after a seven-day fast.
He’s a beast and — no big surprise — he’s a good buddy of Dr. Peter Attia, my MD friend who drinks “jet fuel” in search of optimal athletic performance.
The primary focus of Dom’s laboratory is developing and testing metabolic therapies, including ketogenic diets, ketone esters and ketone supplements to induce nutritional/therapeutic ketosis. D’Agostino’s laboratory uses in vivo and in vitro techniques to understand the physiological, cellular and molecular mechanism of metabolic therapies and nutritional strategies for peak performance and resilience. His research is supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Department of Defense (DoD), private organizations and foundations.
Really interesting topic. If you’re looking for ketones, add coconut oil into your diet!
It seems that coconut oil is beneficial in that it is largely compose of lauric acid a more benign form of saturated fat that only minimally raises LDL cholestrol along with raising good HDL. Most people are unaware that their are various forms of saturated fat and only some such as palmitic acid raise LDL cholesterol, meaning that not all saturated fat is bad for you. The MCTs in coconut oil are also beneficial in that they metabolize rapidly in our body acting similar to glucose. MCT oil is also beneficial for those on a low carb diet (especially for athletes) as they produce ketones in the liver rapidly. In this way they are a therapeutic tool for those suffering from epilepsy and other neurological disorders. They are also a prevalent fat in human breast milk which we can extrapolate that MCTs are beneficial and well tolerated. Lastly they are largely devoid of pro inflammatory omega 6 oils and being that coconut oil is saturated means it does not go rancid easily and does not oxidize easily at high temps as well as keeps for years.
Also, I’m really interested to see if it could help Alzheimer too: CTG Labs - NCBI
CO would defiantly be beneficial for Alzheimers, but it would be better suited in the context of ketosis (restricted carb diet) as that is where the real magic happens in terms of neurological protection as it seems when ketone bodies (fatty acids) are used in the brain increase mitochondria (energy production) which could possibly slow the degenerative process of Alzheimer. So its not so much the CO oil, but rather that that CO increases the production of ketone bodies.