Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-18-2021

Publication Title

Metabolites

Abstract

The promotion of ketone body (KB) metabolism via ketosis has been suggested as a strategy to increase exercise performance. However, studies in humans and animals have yielded inconsistent results. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of ketosis, achieved via fasting or a short-term ketogenic diet (KD), on endurance exercise performance in female mice. After 8 h of fasting, serum KB significantly increased and serum glucose significantly decreased in fasted compared to fed mice. When subjected to an endurance exercise capacity (EEC) test on a motorized treadmill, both fed and fasted mice showed similar EEC performance. A 5-week KD (90% calories from fat) significantly increased serum KB but did not increase EEC times compared to chow-fed mice. KD mice gained significantly more weight than chow-fed mice and had greater adipose tissue mass. Biochemical tissue analysis showed that KD led to significant increases in triglyceride content in the heart and liver and significant decreases in glycogen content in the muscle and liver. Furthermore, KD downregulated genes involved in glucose and KB oxidation and upregulated genes involved in lipid metabolism in the heart. These findings suggest that a short-term KD is not an effective strategy to enhance exercise performance and may lead to increased adiposity, abnormal endogenous tissue storage, and cardiometabolic remodeling.

Volume

11

Comments

Originally published in the journal Metabolites.

© 2021 The Authors.

doi.org/10.3390/metabo11060397

This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Exercise on Energy Metabolism

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11060397

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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