Ketone Ester Review: What are They, and Do They Work?

It's an exciting day at the KetoConnect household! We finally got our hands on the first commercially available ketone ester! The only company currently making this stuff is KetoneAid and they were nice enough to send us a sample to try for ourselves. We have tried most of the exogenous ketone supplements on the market and have not been impressed, but this is something completely different.

Exogenous Ketones - Salts VS Esters

The difference is night and day. When supplementing with the current BHB Salts on the market the impact is negligible. Often I will feel absolutely nothing, where other times I will notice a small benefit in energy and focus. It turns out this is due to the small dose that all BHB Salts deliver. There is an upper limit to how much you can consume at a given time because the ketones are binded to a salt such as sodium, potassium or magnesium. Ketone Esters on the other hand have no limit. You can consume exponentially more at a given time, which leads to a dramatic increase in benefits. The difference is rather astonishing and has completely reversed my thoughts on supplementing ketones and the future of the ketone supplement market.

The Taste - Yes...It's That Bad!

While the taste is much improved from the original iteration of these ketone esters, it's still pretty terrible. I'd describe it as a mix between rubbing alcohol and what I imagine toilet cleaner would taste like, with a squeeze of lemon.  I'm sure this will continue to improve over time, and while it is terrible I don't feel it makes the supplement too prohibitive. It's easy to justify a few minutes of discomfort for hours of increased productivity.

We Monitored Our Ketone and Glucose Levels

After choking down our respective drinks, we started monitoring our blood ketone and glucose levels at set intervals. Megha took a 25ml serving and I took a 45ml serving. Here's the results(My numbers are always on the left, Megha's on the right):

0 Minutes

We were instructed to start with a blood ketone reading of less than 1.0 mmol/L to truly experience the effects of the ketone ester. If you begin the test in a state of deep ketosis the effects will be less noticeable. We followed orders and started the test with a very low reading!

15 Minutes

This thing worked fast! By "worked" I don't just mean our ketone numbers shot up. We had a noticeable increase in energy, focus, and enhanced mood less than 5 minutes after taking the ketone ester. In all honesty I was expecting to take the ketone ester and not really know if it was having any effect. The immediate and dramatic effects of the ketone ester are undeniable. 

30 Minutes

At the 30 minute mark we were brimming with energy and just wanted to sit down at our computers and do some work. Unfortunately the constant interruption of testing our ketone levels made it difficult to do so. The effects of the ketone ester continued to strengthen, with some light anxiety becoming noticeable. I'd describe it as the feeling of drinking a few too many cups of coffee, but the focus was easy to direct towards a task. It was almost like our vision narrowed and intently focused on whatever the current task was. 5.0 would be my peak ketone reading.

Physical Performance

We did a minor physical test, just to see if the physical benefits were abundantly clear to us. We each performed 1 set of max rep push-ups the day before taking the ester, and compared to another set done 45 minutes after taking the ketone ester. The results were not indicative of a huge performance benefit, but this test was obviously extremely limited.

• Matt previous day max - 28 push-ups
• Matt with ketone ester - 30 push-ups
• Megha previous day max - 15 push-ups
• Megha with ketone ester - 14 push-ups

60 Minutes

This was the peak ketone reading for Megha. 4.3! That's right, she went from a 0.6 reading to a 4.3 in 60 minutes. Having never been close to readings this high before, it was interesting to experience how my body functioned. I have always been a believer that more ketones isn't always better, but feeling like superman with a 5.0 reading is definitely making me reconsider that assessment. 

120 Minutes

The differences in our ketone readings was very interesting. Megha seemed to reach her peak of just above 4.0 mmol/L and stay there for a considerable amount of time, whereas I peaked more quickly and dropped off much more rapidly. While the numbers are fun to monitor, what makes me excited for the future of these supplements is all of the noticeable benefits we felt. We'll cover those in the conclusion of this post. This was our last reading of the day.

Conclusion And Takeaway

My conclusion could not be more positive for this ketone ester and the future of ketone ester supplementation. I'm incredibly interested in developments made in this field. With so many supplements on the market that are either complete snake oil or have marginal benefits and are marketed to convince you that they are a miracle pill, this ketone ester is truly in a class of it's own. No supplement I have ever taken has had this big of an effect on my productivity, focus, mental clarity, and overall mood that isn't a recreational or pharmaceutical drug. I'm convinced that this is the next frontier in the supplement industry. If you ever get the chance, I would highly encourage you to give this ketone ester from KetoneAid a try.