For nearly 10 years, Dr. Dominic D’Agostino has served as an assistant professor at the University of South Florida (USF), where he actively researches prospective solutions to managing cancer and to treating neuropathologies that prevent and impair muscle control, such as seizure disorders, Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). In this effort, Dr. Dominic D’Agostino has focused on the effects of a ketogenic diet, ketone esters and ketone supplementation and recently contributed to a study published in the Nature Medicine journal that demonstrates the anti-inflammatory effects of nutritional ketosis.

1. By Dominic D'Agostino

2.  For nearly 10 years, Dr. Dominic D’Agostino has served as
an assistant professor at the University of South Florida
(USF), where he actively researches prospective solutions
to managing cancer and to treating neuropathologies that
prevent and impair muscle control, such as seizure
disorders, Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). In
this effort, Dr. Dominic D’Agostino has focused on the
effects of a ketogenic diet, ketone esters and ketone
supplementation and recently contributed to a study
published in the Nature Medicine journal that
demonstrates the anti-inflammatory effects of nutritional
ketosis. Ketones are endogenous metabolites and β-
hydroxybutyrate (BHB) elevates in the blood as individuals
fast, restrict caloric intake, or partake in rigorous physical
exercise.

3.  Additionally, researchers discovered that following a high-
fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet increases the levels
of BHB found in the bloodstream. Each of these measures
employed independently yielded positive results.
In this new study, D'Agostino worked with collaborators at
Yale School of Medicine to understand how nutritional
ketosis, specifically the role of ketone body beta-
hydroxybutyrate (BHB) influences the NLRP3
inflammasome, a multi protein complex that regulates the
secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines – IL-1 β and IL-
18 – in macrophages, specialized immune cells. Using a
ketone supplement developed by D'Agostino's team at
USF, the authors discovered that only β-hydroxybutyrate
(BHB) suppressed NLRP3 inflammasome activation by
different stimuli.

4.  The implications are that β-hydroxybutyrate
(BHB), by virtue of suppressing a powerful
inflammatory pathway, could therefore
potentially assist in the treatment of type 2
diabetes, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s,
chronic wounds and other inflammatory
diseases.