The keto babies
Did you know that babies who are only fed breast milk or people who have just been born are in a state called ketosis?
Ketosis, which also happens when you fast or eat a low-carb, high-fat diet, is a normal metabolic state for newborn babies. The fact that it happens naturally in newborn babies is unsettling, but it suggests that it may also be helpful.
Since nature rarely does things by accident, it’s likely that newborn humans’ ketosis gives them some sort of evolutionary advantage.
Some research suggests that it may have been a big reason why the human brain got so big.
Since nature doesn’t do things at random, it’s likely that babies in ketosis will have some sort of evolutionary advantage.
According to research, it may have been a big reason why the human brain got so big.
A note on ketone bodies and ketosis
When you fast or eat a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, your body goes into a medical condition known as ketosis, where it consumes fat for power instead of carbohydrates.
In other words, the body doesn’t get enough glucose from carbs and sugar, it makes ketones from fat.
Ketones can power your body and brain, giving them the energy they need to work.
The brain can only run on glucose or ketones, which are two different types of sugar.
Fats can also be used as fuel by other parts of the body.
Ketones are harmful by-products of metabolism that are only used as a backup fuel in emergencies, according to conventional scientific thinking.
No one would say that glucose is a better fuel source than ketones.
But most experts say that you shouldn’t do the Banting diet while you’re pregnant or breastfeeding because there isn’t enough proof of how ketones affect the fetus and newborn.
The difference needs to be made between nutritional ketosis and the ketoacidosis that diabetics sometimes get.
Nutritional ketosis is present when the level of ketones in the blood is between 1 and 3 mmol/L.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is a condition that happens when blood ketones reach 10 mmol/L or more, which is dangerous and unhealthy.
Ketogenic babies
During the second half of pregnancy, ketones give up to 30% of the energy that the brain of the fetus needs.
This shows that ketones are important for the development of the brain in a fetus.
Both the mother and the baby are in a mild state of ketosis at the time of birth and during the third trimester of pregnancy.
In the first few days after birth, newborns start to make more ketones and get used to using their fat stores as their main source of fuel.
This happens in the first few days after a baby is born.
Ketones are made when babies break down both the fat in their bodies and the fat in their food (preferably breastfeeding).
These ketones not only help build important parts of the brain, but they also give the brain cells the energy they need between meals.
Pediatricians believe that human babies are heavier than babies of other mammals so that they have enough energy to meet their higher needs as their brains develop and grow.
It is universally agreed that breastfeeding is the ideal diet for newborn infants. Breast milk contains super-charged nutrients, vitamins, and minerals for the quick development of an infant’s body and intellect. Breast milk also contains a ton of antibiotic and immunolactic substances that keep the nursing child from getting sick during the first year of life. Breast milk is considered part of a keto diet for children and for adults, and there is a growing, though controversial, market for breast milk for adult consumption. Studies on what breast milk can do for the adult immune system are sketchy at best. Much more research needs to be done, and dieticians are evenly divided as to whether people on keto diets should drink human breast milk or not.
Which is better for eating with other foods: a diet low in carbs or a diet high in carbs?
During pregnancy and the first few years of life, a person’s brain grows and changes more than at any other time in their life.
Also, this is the time of day when the brain is best able to metabolize and use ketones.
The ability of the human brain to metabolize ketones well lasts for a long time after weaning, which usually happens at around 6 months of age when complementary foods are introduced.
Because of this, it is likely that ketones will continue to help babies and young children, and maybe even people later in life, develop their brains.
This raises the question of whether it would be better for babies to be weaned onto low-carb, higher-fat foods that keep them in a mild ketosis state from the age of six months?
A diet that is high in carbs but low in fat, like cereal for babies, grains, starchy fruit, and starchy vegetables, might be a better choice.
