Exogenous ketone body supplementation improves endurance performance in endurance athletes.
"there's been some recent studies coming out in the last year or so where exogenous ketone bodies have been given to endurance athletes, and it improved their endurance capacity" (said at 1:26:10)
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials indicate that exogenous ketone supplementation (including ketone monoesters, salts, and precursors) does not improve endurance exercise performance or capacity in trained endurance athletes. A 2022 meta-analysis examining randomized controlled trials found no significant difference in endurance performance between ketone supplementation and control conditions across time-to-exhaustion and time-trial tests. While individual early studies reported mixed outcomes, the broader body of trial evidence predominantly shows null effects or occasional performance decrements, often related to gastrointestinal distress or mild metabolic acidosis.
- contradicts: Utility of Ketone Supplementation to Enhance Physical Performance: A Systematic Review. (Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) 2020)
"Of the 16 performance outcomes identified by the systematic review, 3 reported positive, 10 reported null, and 3 reported negative effects of ketone supplementation on physical performance compared with controls." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - contradicts: Acute Ingestion of Ketone Monoesters and Precursors Do Not Enhance Endurance Exercise Perf… (International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism 2022)
"When comparing endurance performance among all studies, no significant differences were found between ketone and control trials (Hedges g = 0.136; 95% CI [-0.195, 0.467]; p = .419). Subanalyses based on type of endurance tests showed no significant differences in time to exhaustion (Hedge's g = -0.002; 95% CI [-0.312, 0.308]; p = .989) or time trial (Hedge's g = 0.057; 95% CI [-0.282, 0.395]; p = .744) values. Based on these findings, exogenous ketone precursors and monoesters do not exert significant improvements on endurance exercise performance." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)