Ketostix
nitrospop
Posts: 122 Member
Been tracking ketone bodies with ketostix. This time last week I was maxing out the "Large" color code. Today, I'm barely the shade of "small". Been on low carbs for almost 3 weeks. Should I be concerned? Is there a point where the stix do absolutely no good and I have to go to blood testing? I know my diet killed the protein that last couple of days, but I had high protein days last week too. For those that have been here, what's going on? Food Diary is open.
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Replies
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Last week your stick was dark? How can it be dark when you had 164 carbs Monday May 12 eating cobbler, potato salad and beans?
Well, Thursday May 15th you had Texas Roadhouse with lots of carbs, Sunday Monday you had 37g carb eating Sugar Free Cinnamon Bear Gummies.
I eat under 20 net carbs a day (maybe 21, 22) and my keto stick still says light.
I wouldn't worry about it. A keto stick is like a pregnancy test. You either are or aren't, there's no in between. The slightest indicator is a positive.0 -
Ketostix are useless, I can eat a cup cake and still test positive.0
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All ketosticks do is tell you that you HAVE been in ketosis in the last 3 days. So its no indication that you are in today...just that sometime in the last three days you have been.0
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Ketostix are useless, I can eat a cup cake and still test positive.
As has been said, they're rather useless. A meter is MUCH more precise. The vast-majority have best meter results regularly testing in the morning, after their night-time fast.0 -
albertabeefy and Leonidas have the similar black shirts and the same post for their avatar picture. It must be a keto men thing.:laugh:
/random observation0 -
albertabeefy and Leonidas have the similar black shirts and the same post for their avatar picture. It must be a keto men thing.:laugh:
/random observation0 -
Some info regarding ketostixs:
From: The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living, p163-164
Ketones - To Measure or Not
Nutritional ketosis is defined by serum ketones ranging from 0.5 up to 5mM, depending on the amounts of dietary carbohydrate and protein consumed.
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Within a few days of starting on carbohydrate restriction, most people begin excreting ketones in their urine.
This occurs before serum ketones have risen to their stable adapted level because un-adapted renal tubules actively secrete beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate into the urine.
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BOHB and acetoacetate are made in the liver in about equal proportions, and both are initially promptly oxidized by muscle.
But over a matter of weeks, the muscles stop using these ketones for fuel. Instead, muscle cells take up acetoacetate, reduce it to BOHB, and return it back into the circulation.
Thus after a few weeks, the predominant form in the circulation is BOHB, which also happens to be the ketone preferred by brain cells.
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the strips that test for ketones in the urine detect the presence of acetoacetate, not BOHB
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Over time, urine ketone excretion drops off.
These temporal changes in how the kidneys handle ketones make urine ketone testing a rather uncertain if not undependable way of monitoring dietary response/adherence.
From ketopia:
Why You Need To Stop Worrying About The Color Of Your Ketostix
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Of the three types of ketones (acetate, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate) produced by your body, ketostix only measure acetoacetate.
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your body produces different quantities of these different types of ketones depending on how long you’ve been in ketosis.
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When you first start your ketogenic diet and you are not yet fully ketoadapted, your kidneys actively excrete two types of ketones into your urine: beta-hydroxybutyrate .. and acetoacetate
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first your muscles use both beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate for fuel, but after awhile, they begin taking the acetoacetate and converting it to beta-hydroxybutyrate, and returning that to your serum
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As a result of the continued conversion of acetoacetate to beta-hydroxybutyrate, the serum and urine volume of acetoacetate (the only ketone detected by ketostix) is significantly reduced.
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Even though we lack the sophisticated understanding of why kidneys downregulate ketone secretion into urine, we know that it happens and we know that the volume of acetoacetate in your serum drops as you become more fully ketoadapted.
So quite literally, after a few weeks into your low carb ketogenic diet, you’ll likely start seeing a change in your ketone levels as measured by ketostix.
TLDR: Ketostix are essentially useless.0 -
I agree that you cannot perfectly trust the results of Ketostix, however, I should report that since I've been diligently tracking all of my measurements the Ketostix have been almost perfectly aligned with my Precision Xtra blood ketone level testing. Since 4/30 (about a month) I have measured both first thing in the morning (fasting tests) and I've actually been surprised to see them track together so consistently (since I had also read that they wouldn't necessarily).0
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I appreciate everyone's input on this. And if I've read it correctly, stix will be dark for a few weeks after starting the low carb lifestyle and gradually become more light as my body becomes more adapted. Either way, a poor test and I should just BTFM (buy the f'ing meter)!0
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I appreciate everyone's input on this. And if I've read it correctly, stix will be dark for a few weeks after starting the low carb lifestyle and gradually become more light as my body becomes more adapted. Either way, a poor test and I should just BTFM (buy the f'ing meter)!
I got my free meter mailed to me from this website.
https://www.choosefreestyle.com/select-your-meter.html
They ask for your insurance company name, but mine wasn't listed. so I just picked one. It took a little over a week to get mine.
The strips are little pricey, but I ordered my ketone strips from this website as they were the cheapest.
http://www.universaldrugstore.com/
Good luck,
Anita0 -
Thanks for the link! Ordered mine today!0