Ketone drinks: do they really improve sports performance?

By Tim Podlogar, Research Fellow, School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham

The stories of Asterix and his friend Obelix introduced us to a magic potion that comes in a small bottle and doesn’t taste good, but dramatically increases strength and fitness. Sports nutrition scientists have been trying to find or develop a compound with such characteristics for a long while.

Many supplements have been proposed, but few actually work.

The latest supplement receiving lots of attention is ketones. They come in small bottles and their taste is – to put it bluntly – horrible. Because of their high price and claimed improvement gains, many

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