Now that we have a good idea of what ketone bodies are, and
how they start to get formed and where I think it is time to loot at the regulation of the process. I think what has been really interesting to me in researching
this topic is that I expected to find some sort of “master switch” for
ketosis. What I mean by that is I
figured that something would happen that would turn on ketosis, and as such you
are either in ketosis or out of ketosis.
However, as we saw in the last article everyone produces small amounts
of ketones at rest, and ketosis is physiologic process that just happens when
the substrates are available and are not being used for other processes.
There are two main types of regulators for ketogenesis, and
while they may seem very different to some people, I think they are rather
similar. It all depends on what
energy our body is using, and in what amounts. Ketogenesis can be controlled either through physiologic
processes or through enzymatic processes.
We will start with the physiologic ways that ketosis is controlled, and
then go to the enzymatic/hormonal ways, since those are probably a bit more
complicated.
When we talk about physiologic processes that induce ketosis
we are talking about what is going on in our body to make it start naturally
producing ketone bodies. There are
three main ways this happens, and a fourth little trick people use
to jump start the process (any guesses now what that is?). The three ways are: starvation/fasting,
prolonged exercise, and a low carb/high fat diet. Let’s take a look at each of these in turn.
