In my Podcast interview with Dr. Dom D'Agostino a few months back, we talked a little bit about Exogenous Ketones and their effects on anxiety. Recent research has shown their potential benefit for anxiety, as well as conditions such as frequent migraines.
I use a cyclic ketogenic diet, but am certainly not in ketosis on a regular basis, so I decided to try out exogenous ketones myself; particularly because anxiety has always been a big issue for me.
Exogenous Ketone supplements are typically in the form of Ketone Salts that contain beta hydroxybutyrate (not to be confused with the "raspberry ketones" Dr. Oz used to talk about). If you look them up, you'll see pretty quickly that they aren't cheap. Research has shown that a combination of beta hydroxybutyrate and MCT works best, and supplements that combine these are typically even more expensive.
The most cost-effective option I found was to get plain unflavored Beta-Hydroxybutyrate powder off Amazon (4-in-1 Ketone Salts from NutriCost) and combine them with MCT powder from Quest Nutrition. It knocks the price per dose down to a little over $2 (versus $5-8). It's a little rough on the stomach when you first drink it, but it settles down and I've found it to be helpful for anxiety for the first part of the work day when I take it. It seems to have mood-elevating effects and helps take the edge off nervousness. Ideally I would take it 2-3 times spread throughout the day, but that would get expensive quickly.
It certainly isn't the fix-all for anxiety, but I have found it to be beneficial for myself, and as I continue to work on solving the root cause of my anxiety, it is a helpful temporary aid. Hopefully this is helpful for those in a similar boat, and I recommend checking out the whole podcast I did with Dr. D'Agostino that I posted the link to at the beginning of this post. Keep chipping away!
