Hey guys. Did a search and found this interesting study on breath acetone (also called keto-breath). For those who haven't really experienced it (you won't unless someone tells you and the bad breath hand test doesn't work) the smell comes from your lungs and it's a metallic smell. The best way to describe it is to compare it to the smell of a Lysol can. Spray it and then put your nose right on the bore and that's pretty much it.
Ok, basically the study says that breath acetone is a better and more acurate way to determine plasma acetoacetate levels (high when in ketosis) than the Ketostixs. Also with the breath test you will always test accuratly as long as you're in ketosis since water intake and keto/energy usage won't change it. The only difference will be the strenght of the smell.
I just have my gf sniff me up and she tells me right away. Mind you this is not your regular disgusting bad breath (like those people whose mouth smell like they just ate a shit sandwich). It's not plesant either but it's more tolerable due to it's metalic characteristic.
Here's the study.
Original Research Communication
Breath acetone is a reliable indicator of ketosis in adults consuming ketogenic meals1,2,3
Kathy Musa-Veloso, Sergei S Likhodii and Stephen C Cunnane
1 From the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada.
Background: Ketogenic diets are used therapeutically to treat intractable seizures. Clinically, it appears that the maintenance of ketosis is crucial to the efficacy of the diet in ameliorating seizures. To understand how ketosis and seizure protection are related, a reliable, noninvasive measure of ketosis that can be performed frequently with minimal discomfort is needed.
Objective: The objective was to determine which index, breath acetone or urinary acetoacetate, is more strongly related to the plasma ketones acetoacetate and ß-hydroxybutyrate.
Design: After fasting overnight for 12 h, 12 healthy adults consumed 4 ketogenic meals over 12 h. Blood, breath, and urine samples were collected hourly. Blood was analyzed for plasma acetoacetate and ß-hydroxybutyrate, breath for acetone, and urine for acetoacetate.
Results: By the end of the 12-h dietary treatment, plasma acetoacetate, plasma ß-hydroxybutyrate, and breath acetone had increased 3.5-fold, whereas urinary acetoacetate increased 13-fold when measured enzymatically and 25-fold when measured with urinary ketone dipsticks. Plasma acetoacetate was best predicted by breath acetone (R2 = 0.70, P < 0.0001). Plasma ß-hydroxybutyrate was equally predicted by breath acetone and urinary acetoacetate (R2 = 0.54, P = 0.0040).
Conclusions: Breath acetone is as good a predictor of ketosis as is urinary acetoacetate. Breath acetone analysis is noninvasive and can be performed frequently with minimal discomfort to patients. As an indicator of ketosis in epilepsy patients consuming a ketogenic diet, breath acetone may be useful for understanding the mechanism of the diet, elucidating the importance of ketosis in seizure protection, and ultimately, enhancing the efficacy of the diet by improving patient monitoring.
Key Words: Ketogenic diet • breath acetone • ketosis • acetoacetate • ß-hydroxybutyrate • epilepsy • adults
I had been using this method after my ketostixs stop testing me positive eventhoght I was sure I was only taking 18g of carb per day. Even after a carb up week, after taking r-ALA 2 hours later I had the keto breath and no possitive test on the Ketostix... I've also heard once you're body gets used to being in a ketosis state it becomes more efficient and you don't have as many ketones discarded in the urine, thus, you don't test possitive in the strips.
This confirms my theory and sure makes for a better way to test, and all you need is you're loved one's nose lol
Ok, basically the study says that breath acetone is a better and more acurate way to determine plasma acetoacetate levels (high when in ketosis) than the Ketostixs. Also with the breath test you will always test accuratly as long as you're in ketosis since water intake and keto/energy usage won't change it. The only difference will be the strenght of the smell.
I just have my gf sniff me up and she tells me right away. Mind you this is not your regular disgusting bad breath (like those people whose mouth smell like they just ate a shit sandwich). It's not plesant either but it's more tolerable due to it's metalic characteristic.
Here's the study.
Original Research Communication
Breath acetone is a reliable indicator of ketosis in adults consuming ketogenic meals1,2,3
Kathy Musa-Veloso, Sergei S Likhodii and Stephen C Cunnane
1 From the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada.
Background: Ketogenic diets are used therapeutically to treat intractable seizures. Clinically, it appears that the maintenance of ketosis is crucial to the efficacy of the diet in ameliorating seizures. To understand how ketosis and seizure protection are related, a reliable, noninvasive measure of ketosis that can be performed frequently with minimal discomfort is needed.
Objective: The objective was to determine which index, breath acetone or urinary acetoacetate, is more strongly related to the plasma ketones acetoacetate and ß-hydroxybutyrate.
Design: After fasting overnight for 12 h, 12 healthy adults consumed 4 ketogenic meals over 12 h. Blood, breath, and urine samples were collected hourly. Blood was analyzed for plasma acetoacetate and ß-hydroxybutyrate, breath for acetone, and urine for acetoacetate.
Results: By the end of the 12-h dietary treatment, plasma acetoacetate, plasma ß-hydroxybutyrate, and breath acetone had increased 3.5-fold, whereas urinary acetoacetate increased 13-fold when measured enzymatically and 25-fold when measured with urinary ketone dipsticks. Plasma acetoacetate was best predicted by breath acetone (R2 = 0.70, P < 0.0001). Plasma ß-hydroxybutyrate was equally predicted by breath acetone and urinary acetoacetate (R2 = 0.54, P = 0.0040).
Conclusions: Breath acetone is as good a predictor of ketosis as is urinary acetoacetate. Breath acetone analysis is noninvasive and can be performed frequently with minimal discomfort to patients. As an indicator of ketosis in epilepsy patients consuming a ketogenic diet, breath acetone may be useful for understanding the mechanism of the diet, elucidating the importance of ketosis in seizure protection, and ultimately, enhancing the efficacy of the diet by improving patient monitoring.
Key Words: Ketogenic diet • breath acetone • ketosis • acetoacetate • ß-hydroxybutyrate • epilepsy • adults
I had been using this method after my ketostixs stop testing me positive eventhoght I was sure I was only taking 18g of carb per day. Even after a carb up week, after taking r-ALA 2 hours later I had the keto breath and no possitive test on the Ketostix... I've also heard once you're body gets used to being in a ketosis state it becomes more efficient and you don't have as many ketones discarded in the urine, thus, you don't test possitive in the strips.
This confirms my theory and sure makes for a better way to test, and all you need is you're loved one's nose lol

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