Posts

Optimal Weaning from an Evolutionary Perspective:

The evolution of our brains, meat eating, and a reliance on ketogenic metabolism I recently had the privilege of presenting a talk, with the same title as this post, at the Ancestral Health Symposium. I am posting the video here, with a transcript, some references, and related material. Transcript This is what I said for […]

What about the sugars in breast milk?

Something that nearly always comes up when we talk about babies naturally being in ketosis is the fact that breast milk contains sugars — as much as 40% [1].Some people have even argued with us that therefore babies are not in ketosis! @Dr_Rousseau @Jonathan_Witt “Assumption” of babies being ketogenic is wrong. Breast milk is 40% […]

Keto-adapted, but no ketones?

One of the cheapest and easiest ways to measure ketones is to use ketone test strips, e.g. Ketostix. Ketone test strips use a chemical reaction to measure acetoacetate (see below), usually in urine, though the same method can be used for blood. (Not to be confused with the blood strips used at home for beta-hydroxybutyrate.) […]

Babies thrive under a ketogenic metabolism

Some people, even some scientists who study ketogenic metabolism, have the idea that ketogenesis is somehow abnormal, or exceptional; an adaptation for emergencies only. We disagree. One reason we think a ketogenic metabolism is normal and desirable, is that human newborns are in ketosis. Despite the moderate sugar content of human breast milk, breastfeeding is […]