Ketone-IQ in Australia: How Can It Be Helpful?

It’s one thing to hit a wall in your physical development when you are training for muscle growth and strength gains. But when you are involved in endurance sports, such as cycling or marathon running in the hot Australian sun? That wall could hit you like a semi-truck.

Supplements like Ketone Energy IQ might not be the do-all, be-all of cognitive performance boosting and athletic performance improvements, but in the right set of circumstances, they are scientifically proven to act as a quick source of energy for your brain, without relying on direct stimulants such as caffeine.

Ketone-IQ in Australia Can:

• Cross the blood-brain barrier and act as an alternative energy fuel source during moments of increased physical exertion.
• Improve overall physical performance
• Suppress hunger hormones in some individuals
• Give you a steadier boost of energy than what’s possible with sugary drinks

What Exactly Is Ketone-IQ?

Ketone-IQ is an exogenous ketone drink that can act as a backup energy reserve during times when carb intake is low. Your body naturally produces ketones in the liver when fasting or during prolonged exercise. But it’s not exactly a fast process. During a standard diet, the body produces under <0.5 mmol/L of ketones in the liver, by the breakdown of fat. However, during fasting, that production can increase to 7.0 mmol/L. There’s a problem, though. Entering this stage is not exactly pleasant.

Products like Ketone Energy IQ can bypass the body’s ketone production process by providing these molecules directly, and raise blood ketone levels minutes after consumption. Do you really need these ketones? Well, it depends. Ketone bodies are molecules that your body produces when it burns fat instead of carbs. There are three of them: BHB, acetoacetate, and acetone, but most supplements focus on BHB.

Since the body bypasses the fat-burning part necessary for entering ketosis, ketone supplements such as Ketone-IQ in Australia cannot really be considered a weight-loss shortcut. However, since they provide extra energy to your cells, they can be looked at as a performance supplement that can help with mental clarity and provide a boost during long workout sessions.

Who Should Take a Ketone Supplement?

The people who are most likely to benefit from Ketone-rich supplements are those who are engaged in medium-intensity, endurance sports, or individuals on diets or who practice fasting. Are you, for example, a Muslim and are you fasting during Ramadan? If so, if you take a Ketone supplement just before starting your fasting period, you could notice slightly better mental clarity and feel more energised for a couple of hours after starting the period of no eating and drinking.

The same is true if you are following intermittent fasting. Ketones can provide your energy without influencing your body’s glucose levels; they can be useful for people on a ketogenic diet who are transitioning into ketosis, and it’s also a solution for athletes engaged in long-distance running, swimming and cycling, as muscle glycogen reserves can often get depleted during long sport events.

However, ketones are not a traditional stimulant, and there is not much evidence out there that they can support muscle growth and aid with high-intensity short workout sessions. High-intensity exercises mostly rely on Anaerobic glycolysis. Ketones produce ATP a bit too slowly for high-intensity sports, but they are useful for endurance-related activities, in which a prolonged release of energy is preferred.

What Is the Scientific Mechanism Behind Ketone Synthesis?

It’s actually quite interesting. When consuming exogenous ketones, the BHB circulates in the bloodstream and is absorbed by tissues such as the skeletal muscles, the heart or the brain. Once it reaches the inside of the cell, BHB is converted into acetoacetate and then acetyl-CoA, which then enters the Krebs cycle.

The Krebs cycle, as you may or may not know, is like the cell’s energy production factory. The TCA process happens inside the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, and, while efficient, it’s faster when it’s aided by glucose. Glucose goes from pyruvate to acetyl-CoA, while ketones have more conversion steps as they have no glycolysis shortcut.

However, once these ketones are synthesised and reach the cell’s mitochondria, they can provide upwards of 70% of the brain’s energy requirements during periods of prolonged fasting. This is one of the reasons why ketone supplements are linked to improvements in concentration and mental clarity. In fact, according to a paper published in Frontiers in Nutrition by Angela M. Poff, Sara Moss, Maricel Soliven, and Dominic P. D’Agostino, ketosis induced by exogenous ketones may improve cognitive and motor performance in neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Can You Drink Ketone Shots in the Morning?

Yes, in fact, this is how I use ketone drinks. If you are used to skipping breakfast, you want a quick boost of energy without relying on caffeine products or/and you are trying to supplement your work performance by improving your mental clarity, ketone shots can be one of the easiest and quickest ways to stabilise your body’s natural energy levels, and see a positive development in your cognitive performance.

Ketone shots work, as they provide your body with the energy levels required to function during periods of fasting. Are you not on a diet, and you are not really that keen on skipping meals? Me neither, but this doesn’t mean that ketone shots can’t have a positive effect on you. Ketone shots provide your body with BHB, which can then be synthesised and later converted into ATP. The effect is milder than with caffeine, but it’s also more stable.

Personally, whenever I take ketone shots, I feel less hunger-driven fatigue, and I can notice a slight boost in my mental clarity. Not a substantial difference, that’s true, but enough to wake me up in the morning, and aid with work-related tasks. For mornings in which you feel tired, when the weather in Australia drains you out, or when you are anticipating long focus sessions, in which you won’t have access to direct stimulants, such as caffeine, raising the blood’s ketone level can be one of the smartest and quickest ways to experience a stable energy boost.