Sarah Deemer, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the NORC and Department of Nutrition Sciences, was awarded 1st place for “Exogenous Dietary Ketone Esters Decrease Body Weight and Adiposity in Mice Housed at Thermoneutrality.”

Dietary ketone esters are known to decrease body weight and adiposity, reduce food intake, and increase energy expenditure in mice when they are housed at normal room temperatures. The purpose of this study was to look at the effects of a KE-supplemented diet on energy expenditure and fat mass in mice housed under warmer temperatures (thermoneutral zone), where sympathetic activity is diminished. Eight weeks of ketone ester consumption resulted in identical loss of both body weight and fat mass in mice housed at both standard and thermoneutral conditions compared to mice on control diets. Future work in this area will be focusing on the mechanisms behind which ketone esters contribute to weight loss independent of sympathetic activity. UAB Co-investigators are Rachel Harley Davis, PhD; Daniel L. Smith, Jr, PhD; and mentor Eric P. Plaisance, PhD.