Breath acetone as an indicator of ketosis while consuming a ketogenic diet

grantor: University of TorontoThe ketogenic diet is a high fat, low carbohydrate diet used to treat children with intractable epilepsy. The maintenance of blood ß-hydroxybutyrate above 2 mM and acetoacetate above 0.6 mM is important to the diet's effectiveness. The objectives of this thesis were to determine whether the Ketostix urinary test for ketosis reflects plasma ketones and whether breath acetone is a better measure of plasma ketones than the urinary ketone test. It was hypothesised that breath acetone would be a more reliable indicator of the plasma ketones than the urinary ketone test. In adults in acute ketosis, urinary acetoacetate was significantly correlated with plasma acetoacetate (r2 = 0.72, p = 0.0003) and plasma ß-hydroxybutyrate (r2 = 0.52, p = 0.0057). Breath acetone was significantly correlated with plasma acetoacetate (r2 = 0.88, p < 0.0001) and plasma ß-hydroxybutyrate (r2 = 0.66, p < 0.0001). In rats in chronic ketosis, breath acetone was significantly correlated with plasma ß-hydroxybutyrate (r 2 = 0.73, p < 0.0001). Breath acetone and Ketostix urinary acetoacetate are both significantly correlated with the plasma ketones.M.Sc