Ketosis health benefits are numerous, affecting several tissues of the body for the better. But before going any further, I will explain to you what is ketosis. Well, it is a metabolic state in which most of your body cells mitochondria burn ketone bodies as fuel instead of sugar to produce ATP, which is the cell energy unit. Ketone bodies are the metabolic byproducts of the fat you eat and digest, when you are on a ketogenic diet, or the fat you have as fuel store around your waist.
In other words, either the fat you eat, when you are on a ketogenic diet, or the fat you have around your waist as adipose tissue, when you are fasting, is broken down by an enzyme called lipase into one molecule of glycerol and two fatty acids, which in turn are further refined and metabolized into three types of ketone bodies; ß-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, and acetone. Thus, when your neurons and muscle cells run out of glucose, their mitochondria (cell organelles) start burning ß-hydroxybutyrate as fuel to produce ATP. When this happens, then you are in the state of ketosis.
Metabolic Health Benefits of Ketosis
The main health benefit of burning ketone bodies, which derive from fat digestion and its metabolic pathway in the liver, is that it promotes what is called the bioneogenesis of the mitochondrion, which means the production of new mitochondria through the division of this organelle into two. So, the more mitochondria in your cell cytosol, the more ATP per second is going to be generated. The multiplication of mitochondria and ATP induces in turn the neuroneogenesis of the nerve cells, which means their replication into more neurons, which is going to help develop fully your brain fasciculi (your brain wiring). And when your myelinated brain bundles develop, your mental clarity, memory, and the fine motor movement of your hands are going to improve sharply. Another health benefit is the fact that you lose weight, because you burn fat when you are in ketosis.
This metabolic and neurological advantages you get when you are in the state of ketosis, make the ketogenic diet the ideal diet, which can be used to treat patients affected by chronic diseases, such as type II diabetes, Alzheimer, epilepsy seizures, and even cancer.
By Carlos B. Camacho (biological anthropologist)
