The Complete Book of Ketones: A Practical Guide to Ketogenic Diets and Ketone Supplements

The title says it most accurately. This is a complete treatment of the subject of ketones, ketogenic disciplines, and diets. Early in, Dr. Newport states, “The story of ketones is Steve Newport’s legacy to the world. I am his messenger.”

There we have motivation for many years of experimentation, consultation, medical evangelism, and research: Dr. Newport’s beloved husband and her efforts and partial successes in ameliorating his advancing affliction with Alzheimer’s disease.

Ketones, as the doctor repeatedly informs us, are an alternative fuel for the brain. Glucose, in Alzheimer’s, encounters increased blood/brain resistance, and ketones do not. She makes the case, most convincingly, that ketosis (not diabetic ketogenesis) is one of the evolutionary tricks our species possess to cope with everything from fasting to breastfeeding to extended physical exertion.

As any biology student who has suffered trying to memorize the complexity of the Krebs digestive cycle knows, our usual metabolic path to glucose production is extended and distinctly Rube Goldbergian, a reminder that evolution has many elements of happenstance rather than design. Ketones are produced from fats in a shorter process, which can be specifically stimulated.

This leads to the repeated evocation of the efficacy of coconut oil and some of its burgeoning derivatives, extracts, and simulators. There is a significant treatment of coconut and oil palm distribution and history. Those substances, their historic appearance, and distribution receive comprehensive coverage.

Doctor Newport gives full appreciation to and backgrounds of many in the field of ketogenic study. Curricula Vitae is detailed, and effort is made to show the intellectual linking and growth of these theorists and their theories.

Additionally, it does appear that all the diet methodologies and diet guidelines that have led to our current understanding of Keto diets and treatments have been objectively covered. We haven’t a novel here, but instead a striving for depth and breadth, so some of this becomes a bit extended to follow.

The most critically functional ketone is acetoacetate, but most inexpensive tests reveal just beta-Hydroxybutyrate, an accompanying ketone. And if, like me, you never made it to Biological Chemistry, those very often-mentioned substances, and the chemistry that contributes to their production, can make for slower reading simply because of the plethora of words with more than six syllables — that require some practice to pronounce.

I want to emphasize that while we are given much more than a simple guide to achieving and using a ketogenic condition, the sheer informativeness of this volume is rewarding. A range of questions are answered, with this writer’s comprehensively sympathetic style. Possible hopes for treatment of epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and even Multiple Sclerosis are advanced with care. Research in this quickly expanding field of inquiry is still in ferment.

A bonus! There are recipes!! And the sources of these, too, are given honest attribution. All material in the book is carefully referenced.

My sole regret after undertaking this reading is that working with an uncorrected proof, I am now denied an index. Without any punning, an enriching tone.