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Ketone ester supplementation blunts overreaching symptoms during endurance training overload
Chiel Poffé1, Monique Ramaekers1, Ruud Van Thienen1
1Exercise Physiology Research Group, Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
The Journal of Physiology
|May 1, 2019
Summary
Oral ketone ester (KE) intake prevents overtraining in athletes by blunting physiological symptoms and enhancing performance. This nutritional strategy may also help diagnose overtraining using growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15).
Area of Science:
- Exercise Physiology
- Nutritional Biochemistry
- Sports Science
Background:
- Sustained athletic performance requires overload training, but excessive overload can lead to detrimental catabolic states like non-functional overreaching or overtraining.
- Blood ketone bodies are known to mitigate catabolic events induced by energy deficit, such as those from intense training or fasting.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if oral ketone ester (KE) intake can prevent the physiological detriments of endurance training-induced overreaching.
- To determine if KE supplementation enhances endurance exercise performance during a strenuous training period.
Main Methods:
- Fit male subjects underwent a 3-week, high-volume endurance training program with two daily sessions.
- Participants received either a ketone ester (KE) drink or a control (CON) drink after each training session.
- Key physiological markers, including heart rate, hormonal excretion, energy balance, and growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), were monitored.
Main Results:
- Ketone ester supplementation significantly increased sustainable training load and power output by 15% compared to the control group.
- KE intake blunted the training-induced increases in nocturnal adrenaline and noradrenaline excretion and attenuated heart rate reductions.
- Energy balance remained positive in the KE group, while the CON group developed a negative energy balance; GDF15 levels increased less in the KE group.
Conclusions:
- Ketone ester intake is an effective nutritional strategy to prevent non-functional overreaching during intense endurance training.
- KE supplementation can enhance endurance exercise performance.
- Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) shows potential as a hormonal biomarker for diagnosing overtraining syndrome.
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