Post‐exercise ketosis.

Abstract

1. The effect of exercise on blood ketone body concentrations was studied in trained athletes and in sedentary subjects pedalling a bicycle ergometer. 2. Although the untrained subjects had higher heart rates and blood lactate concentrations at the same work load as the athletes, neither group developed ketonaemia even after intense or prolonged exercise. 3. Older subjects developed post‐exercise ketonaemia, reaching maximum about 3 hr after exercise. 4. A high‐carbohydrate diet before the exercise could prevent the onset of post‐exercise ketonaemia and a low‐carbohydrate diet enhanced it. The highest post‐exercise blood ketone levels were recorded in marathon runners after a "glycogen‐stripping' regimen. 5. Concentrations of free fatty acids, glucose, growth hormone and insulin in blood after exercise followed different patterns from that of ketones. 6. Post‐exercise ketosis, when it occurs in untrained subjects, may be due to a lower carbohydrate intake than that of athletes. © 1980 The Physiological Society