Harnessing ketone metabolites for brain health and brain resilience

The ketogenic diet, fasting, and ketone supplements switch the body's fuel source from carbs to fats, a state known as ketosis. This switch can be good for your brain, helping to keep it healthy and resilient to damage. In ketosis, your liver makes a special fat-derived fuel called beta-hydroxybutyrate, or BHB for short. BHB is like a cleaner fuel for your brain—it doesn't leave as many harmful leftovers as sugar does, and it can also tell your brain to turn on defense mechanisms. This research team has spotted a new twist: when BHB joins up with amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), they create something called BHB-amino acids. They've found these compounds can influence brain activity and even change how much we want to eat. This project is now going to dig deeper into these BHB-amino acids. The team wants to figure out how they're made in our bodies, how they affect different parts of the brain, and if they can help promote brain health. These experiments could show that these molecules carry some of the brain-boosting benefits of ketosis, which would be especially helpful as our brains get older.