When this happens, your body becomes highly efficient at burning fat for energy, while also turning fat
into ketones in the liver, which can supply energy for the brain.
It also turns fat
into ketones in the liver, which can supply energy for the brain (6, 7).
And MCTs, if people hadn't heard about them before, they're preferentially converted
into ketones in the liver and then those ketones can be used for various things.
Not exact matches
The magic happens
in your
liver, it converts this new steady supply of dietary fats
into ketones to fuel your body and brain and
in the process, your
liver accesses your stored body fat and burns that as well.
However, if there is very little carbohydrate
in the diet, the
liver converts fat
into fatty acids and
ketone bodies.
The
liver also converts MCT
into ketone bodies the brain can use for fuel
in lieu of glucose.
When your body goes
into Ketosis, your
liver starts to produce
ketones for energy from stored fats, which is often what triggers the weight loss
in Keto Diet practitioners.
Your
liver begins to convert the fat stored
in your body
into fatty acids and
ketone bodies, these
ketone bodies then replace glucose as the bodies energy source.
Liver cells increase metabolism of fatty acids
into ketones in an attempt to supply energy to peripheral cells, which are unable to transport glucose
in the absence of insulin.
Instead, they are smaller
in size so they are readily absorbed by the small intestine and transported to the
liver, where they are converted
into ketones.
And they get you
into ketosis fast, as they go mostly straight to the
liver, where they get converted
in to
ketones!
A low carb high fat (LCHF) diet plan tells your body to burn stored fat by converting this fat
into fatty acids and
ketone bodies
in your
liver.
A ketogenic diet and being
in ketosis is basically a low carb diet that enables the body to produce
ketones in the
liver that can be converted
into energy.
When glucose is
in short supply, your
liver will break down fats
into ketones, which are then used throughout your body for energy.
The beauty of this is the
liver requires minimal action to convert MCTs directly
into fuel
in the form of
ketones.
MCTs upon consumption are rapidly converted
into ketone bodies by the
liver and can be readily used as fuel by every cell
in your body including the cells
in your brain.
In the 1970s it was discovered that while the
liver burns some MCTs immediately to produce energy, others are converted
into ketones.
Consequently, when one is consuming a low - carb diet that is high
in healthy fats,
ketones are formed
in the
liver which then are transported
into the mitochondria, bypassing the anaerobic respiration process and drastically cutting down on lactate production.
Our body stores each macronutrient
in a different fashion and breaks each down
into a different preferred energy form: fat is obviously stored as body fat and broken down to be used as
ketones, protein is stored as muscle and is broken down to be used as amino acids (or as glucose, as we will discuss below), and carbohydrates are stored as glycogen within the
liver and muscle cells which is broken down to be used as glucose.
In other words, if insulin is high, ketones are low; if insulin is low, the liver breaks down fat into small pieces called ketones (insulin in fact tells the liver to make and store fat)[1
In other words, if insulin is high,
ketones are low; if insulin is low, the
liver breaks down fat
into small pieces called
ketones (insulin
in fact tells the liver to make and store fat)[1
in fact tells the
liver to make and store fat)[1].
MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides) are a particular type of beneficial fat that requires minimal action from the
liver to convert directly
into fuel
in the form of
ketones.
Because the fatty acids
in coconut oil get shipped to the
liver and turned
into ketones, they are often used
in epileptic patients to induce ketosis while allowing for a bit more carbs
in the diet (13, 14).