A ketone drink to improve exercise performance in PD 1.6
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Supplementation with a ketone ester drink to improve exercise performance in patients with Parkinson's disease as measured by a cycle ergometer ramp test
IRAS ID
257795
Contact name
Michele Hu
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
TdeltaS Ltd
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN16599164
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the world’s most common neurodegenerative disease that affects motor function. The four cardinal symptoms of PD are shaking, rigidity, problems with gait, and slowness of movement. These symptoms are progressive and severely impact all patients at some point during the disease process.
A substantial amount of research has focused on exercise as an intervention to alleviate the symptoms of PD. However, the effectiveness of exercise is confounded by the fact that PD limits individuals’ physical capabilities. Therefore, an intervention that could acutely boost patients’ physical capabilities could help establish a positive loop whereby increased exercise capacity leads to symptom improvement, which further rescues exercise capacity, and so on.
The Clarke group at Oxford University has invented a ketone body supplement (ΔG®) that may stimulate such a positive loop. Ketone bodies are produced by the liver during starvation to fuel the brain and body in place of glucose and are not typically present in the human diet. ΔG® is a nutritional supplement that provides a safe way to boost ketone body levels without starvation, contributing to a novel metabolic state in humans. In a landmark paper published in the journal Cell, the Clarke group provided strong evidence that ΔG® alters metabolism and significantly increases exercise performance in athletes.
The aim of this study is to investigate whether the improvements in physical performance seen in athletes who consumed ΔG® will generalize to patients with PD and, thereby, help to alleviate disease symptoms. We will recruit 15 PD patients from within the UK, each of whom will perform an exercise test on a cycle ergometer twice, once after consuming a ketone drink containing 25g of ΔG® and once after consuming an isocaloric placebo control drink. Prior to and during the exercise tests, we will also measure metabolites in the blood, heart function, and lung function.
REC name
South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0032
Date of REC Opinion
11 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion