Dr. Andrew Koutnik — A research scientist who has worked on over 100 studies on metabolic health, diabetes, and the ketogenic diet. He lives with type 1 diabetes and reversed his own childhood obesity, and is regarded as a leading researcher on ketones and glucose.
The gist
Steven Bartlett and Dr. Andrew Koutnik dig into why blood glucose control (measured by HbA1c) sits at the top of the hierarchy of health risk factors, and how the ketogenic diet and carbohydrate restriction can prevent and even reverse conditions like type 2 diabetes, obesity, and possibly mental illness. Using his own insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor, Koutnik demonstrates live how eating three oranges spikes his glucose and insulin. He walks through landmark research, including a 10-year ketogenic diet study in a type 1 diabetic and a study showing record fat-burning in athletes on keto, and explains the science and applications of exogenous ketones for cognition, performance, cancer, and brain aging. The conversation also exposes how the processed food industry engineers products to drive overconsumption and disguises sugar on labels.
Big reveals
- Claims exogenous ketones produced a 50% improvement in reading/absorbing information and delayed metastatic cancer progression in his studies.
- Reveals he wears both an insulin pump and a CGM 24/7 because his body no longer produces insulin (type 1 diabetes).
- Eats three oranges live on camera to demonstrate how a 'superfood' spikes his glucose and insulin in real time.
- His doctor, then president of the American Diabetes Association, said he'd never seen a normal-range blood sugar in a type 1 diabetic before.
- Describes a 10-year ketogenic diet study where the patient's LDL nearly doubled yet cardiovascular health was better than people without diabetes.
- Athletes adapted to keto recorded the highest levels of fat oxidation during high-intensity exercise ever reported in the literature.
- Co-owns Ketone-IQ and invested millions after the founders sent him free shots that profoundly improved his focus and mood.
- At only 34 years old, the guest is described by Bartlett as the 'gold standard' of ketone research.
Things worth remembering
- Over 68% of America is obese, meaning roughly 7 out of 10 people on the street have obesity.
- HbA1C, a 2-3 month average of blood glucose, is among the strongest predictors of future cardiovascular, eye, and kidney disease.
- The ketogenic diet was first reported as a diabetes treatment in 1796 and used for epilepsy from 1921.
- Staying in ketosis generally requires keeping carbohydrates below roughly 50 grams per day.
- 'Zero sugar' and 'keto friendly' labels can hide ingredients like maltitol and maltodextrin that spike glucose just like sugar.
- About 93% of Americans have some form of metabolic derangement.
- The active molecule in exogenous ketones (1,3-butanediol) was studied by MIT's aerospace department and a $10M DARPA program in 2016.
- One study found brain network stability was 87% greater after consuming ketones than after consuming glucose.
- Exogenous ketones are associated with roughly a 20% decrease in appetite in one study.
- Blending fruit into a smoothie increases absorption speed and worsens the hormonal/glucose response versus eating whole fruit.