Short‐term ketone monoester supplementation improves cerebral blood flow and cognitive function in adults with obesity: A randomized‐crossover trial
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background/Objectives Adults with obesity are at increased risk of neurocognitive impairments, due in part to reductions in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Ketone supplements containing β‐hydroxybutyrate (β‐OHB) are a purported therapeutic strategy for improving brain health in at‐risk populations. We tested the hypothesis that short‐term β‐OHB supplementation will elevate CBF and BDNF, and in turn improve cognitive function in individuals with obesity. Subjects/Methods In a placebo‐controlled double‐blind crossover design 14 adults with obesity (10F; age=56±12 yrs; BMI=33.8±6.9 kg/m 2 ) consumed 30 mL of either placebo or ketone supplement (12 g β‐OHB) thrice‐daily for 14 days. Participants were provided with all meals and snacks, which were matched between each 14‐day period. CBF, cerebrovascular conductance (CVC), and shear rate were measured in the common carotid (CCA), internal carotid (ICA), and vertebral (VA) arteries by duplex ultrasound. Plasma and serum BDNF were measured by ELISA. Cognitive function was assessed by the digit‐symbol substitution task (DSST), Stroop test, and task‐switching test. All measures were taken in the fasting, non‐supplemented state. Results CCA blood flow (25 mL×min ‐1 [12, 38], P =0.001), ICA shear rate (42 s ‐1 [15, 69], P =0.004), VA blood flow (18 mL×min ‐1 [10, 26], P <0.001), VA CVC (0.08 mL×min ‐1 ×mmHg ‐1 [0.01, 0.15], P =0.027), and VA shear rate (34 s ‐1 [10, 59], P =0.008) significantly increased following 14‐days of ketone supplementation. DSST performance (correct responses; CR) increased following ketone supplementation (+2.7 CR [1.3, 4.1], P <0.001) and this was positively associated with CCA blood flow (0.001 mL×min ‐1 ×CR ‐1 [0.001, 0.02], P =0.033) and CCA CVC (1.24 ml×min ‐1 ×mmHg ‐1 CR ‐1 [0.24, 2.24], P= 0.024), VA blood flow (0.034 mL×min ‐1 ×CR ‐1 [0.002, 0.066], P =0.039) and VA CVC (3.32 1.24 ml×min ‐1 ×mmHg ‐1 CR ‐1 [0.20, 6.43], P =0.04). There were no differences in serum (301.8 pg/mL [‐1033.4, 1637.2], P =0.65) and plasma BDNF (‐380.4 pg/mL [‐1023.9, 263.2], P =0.24) following ketone supplementation. Conclusions Short‐duration ketone supplementation improved aspects of cognitive function, which may have been facilitated by enhanced CBF in adults with obesity. Ketone supplementation was well‐tolerated and appears safe for cerebrovascular health, suggesting potential therapeutic benefits of β‐OHB for brain health in adults with obesity.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.005 | 0.002 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.008 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".