Do ketones from Ketone-IQ® get turned back into fat?

The short answer is no. There is no metabolic pathway where ketones are easily turned back into fat. Read on for more technical details.

Metabolism is highly complex and there are many factors that affect energy use. There are also big differences between all of the tissues in the body (fat vs. liver vs. muscle vs. brain vs. heart).

There is not a metabolic pathway where ketones are easily turned back into fat because this would be a "futile" metabolic cycle: turning fat into ketones and then back into fat.

The process of making new fat is called de novo lipogenesis (DNL). DNL requires elevated levels of a molecule called acetyl CoA (ACoA).

ACoA gets turned into fat. This process mainly happens in the liver and the fat tissue. Evidence for DNL happening anywhere else in the body is limited.

The liver cannot convert ketones into ACoA, as it doesn’t have the necessary enzymes. Therefore, Ketone-IQ® is highly unlikely to contribute to DNL in the liver.

Only a small amount of fat stored in fat tissue comes from DNL (~10%), and only when the body has excess energy. The conversion of ketones back into fat would likely be minor if it happens at all.


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