“Over three million Canadians have type 2 diabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are too high. High blood sugar damages blood vessels and other organs contributing to increased risk for cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, and other disorders. Although there is no cure for type 2 diabetes, weight loss through hunger management may aid in managing the disease.
My project will explore if a novel nutritional drink that contains molecules called “ketones” influences perceptions of hunger in people with type 2 diabetes.
Ketones are naturally made by our bodies as a source of energy during times of starvation. In previous research findings, ketones have been implicated in reduced hunger. However, studies have used ketogenic diets or prolonged fasting so they have many confounding factors that prevent the ability to determine if ketones themselves directly reduce hunger or if another aspect of metabolism may be more important. Raising blood ketone levels quickly after consuming this new ketone drink will allow us to directly determine if ketones influence appetite regulation in individuals with type 2 diabetes under a controlled diet situation.
This project will inform our basic understanding of what influences hunger and also determine if a ketone drink could aid in weight loss or weight loss maintenance in people with type 2 diabetes. I then hope to take these insights and develop ways to deliver them through knowledge translation, especially for non-English speaking communities.
My overall goal is to help implement strategies to improve the health-related quality of life for individuals, particularly in specific populations where chronic diseases are more prevalent.”
