The seven effects of ketone bodies making them powerful neuroprotectors

There are seven traits allowing ketones to serve as neuroprotectors during brain damage:

  1. they require only three steps to enter the Krebs cycle (footnote a) – compare with 9 steps obligatory for glucose;
  2. they cause  inhibition of glycolysis, thus decreasing free radical formation;
  3. they increase production of ATP (footnote b);
  4. they increase mitochondrial energy efficiency;
  5. they increase antioxidant activity of glutathione peroxidase (footnote c);
  6. they spare pyruvate from processing in the Krebs cycle

Source: Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism (2008) 28, 1–16

Footnotes
a) The Krebs cycle or the citric acid cycle is a metabolic pathway involved in the conversion (“burning”) of carbohydrates, fats and proteins into CO2 and H2O to generate energy in the form that can be used by living organisms.
b) ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate, the ultimate “energy molecule”.
c) Glutathione peroxidase: a powerful scavenger of free radicals.
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