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Pittsburg, Kansas | I saw the breath meters when they first came out a few years ago but have no experience with them.
Wife and I checked our ketones for a while just to make sure we were getting in fat burning mode, but only did it for a while and occasionally. A Precision meter is what we have. Cheapest test strips I could find. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010MPEOOK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_...
Testing for ketones is not cheap, unlike glucose testing.
Some low carb doctors are really big on getting the ketone levels up. And in my opinion if a person is trying to use the diet for a specific health reason, like fighting cancer or epilepsy for example, getting ketone levels up higher (and glucose lower) probably has benefits. The heart, research has shown, works more efficiently on ketones and will use them over glucose as available. Same for brain.
But for most people the level of ketosis probably does not matter much other than letting a person know that they have arrived at a low enough carb intake to put them into nutritional ketosis. The general numbers thrown around are for most metabolically healthy people carbs under 50 grams a day will get a person into nutritional ketosis, diabetics or people with insulin resistance may need to get down to 20 grams carbs or less.
I never saw my ketone numbers very high (but then I am diabetic). Maybe up to 1.5 was as high as I ever saw and .8 or something like that was more normal. Some consider anything over .5 to be in nutritional ketosis but even that is not universal. Everyone makes a few ketones even if not in nutritional "ketosis" and on a standard high carb diet. Like .2 or something.
More than you ask for. I don't know if the breath meters were ever "perfected" or not. I'm completely out of test strips now and have been for a year probably. Will probably get a few more some day and check again just for the heck of it. But mostly I don't worry about it.
Edit to add: before someone brings up "keto acidosis", for any normal person or type II diabetic (unless they are on some weird medication or other health issues) keto acidosis is virtually impossible as long as a person is making any reasonable amount of insulin. And most insulin resistant or diabetic type II people are making tons of insulin, way too much insulin for health. If for some reason a person is not making any insulin (like a type I diabetic that forgets or chooses not to take their insulin shots) then keto acidosis becomes a possibility and it can be a life threatening possibility. But as far as diet, I think a person could fast a month and would never have to worry about keto acidosis. But then I am not a doctor, have never played one on TV, and the only white coat I remember wearing was on a tour of a beef processing plant I toured one time. So what I say is my dumb farmer opinion only from what I "think" I have learned and subject to change. How is that for a disclaimer?
If I remember correctly keto acidosis becomes a worry if someone's ketones get above 5.0 and life threatening danger is on the order of 10 or 15. Most people through diet change rarely are able to get above around 3, even if they are trying to get their ketones as high as they can for specific health reasons. Just what I remember, may be wrong.
Edited by John Burns 12/21/2022 07:10
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Keton testing
