World Champion Rower and Ketone Monoester Researcher Brianna Stubbs

Feb. 10, 2017

Brianna Stubbs, PhD is an extraordinary woman on multiple levels. She was the youngest person ever to row across the English Channel, has represented GB at every age level and won gold at the World U23 Championships in 2013, and again at the senior level at the 2016 World Championships. Brianna will be looking to build on that success during the Tokyo 2020 Olympiad.

If that wasn’t enough, Brianna recently gained her PhD in Biochemical Physiology at Oxford University where she worked alongside Dr Kieran Clarke to develop a novel ketone monoester that has recently been shown to improve exercise performance in endurance athletes.

You should listen to this podcast to discover the special benefits of ketones and their supplementation.

Here’s the outline of this interview with Brianna Stubbs, PhD:

[00:01:10] Early rowing days.

[00:02:10] Different types of athlete: rowing versus sculling.

[00:03:14] Rowing training is mostly endurance, but the races are short.

[00:05:00] 24 mMol/L blood lactate!

[00:05:25] When Propel Coaching tested my lactate threshold I topped out at a measly 7.8.

[00:06:18] Lactate clearance.

[00:07:20] The road to medical school.

[00:08:52] Kieran Clarke, PhD.

[00:10:03] Juggling training and academic work.

[00:12:19] Working on the ketone monoester.

[00:12:39] Instant Ketosis: 0.4 to 6.2mM in 30 Minutes.

[00:12:49] Ketone salts.

[00:13:22] How ketone supplements improve athletic performance.

[00:14:39] Ketones spare protein.

[00:15:09] What type of events stand to benefit.

[00:16:37] Sweet spot 2-4 mM?

[00:17:16] Stellingwerff, Trent[Author] ? Ref

[00:18:14] Palatability and tolerability.

[00:20:11] What level of athlete stands to benefit?

[00:21:29] 2% cycling performance over a 1h TT. See Cox, Pete J., et al. "Nutritional ketosis alters fuel preference and thereby endurance performance in athletes." Cell Metabolism 24.2 (2016): 256-268.

[00:23:16] Diet vs supplements.

[00:24:22] Interview with Mike T. Nelson: High Ketones and Carbs at the Same Time? Great Performance Tip or Horrible Idea…

[00:24:36] Monocarboxylate transporter.

[00:25:36] Randle cycle.

[00:27:32] Ketosis implies a bias towards fat!

[00:28:19] High glucose and ketones.

[00:28:38] Exogenous ketones lower glucose.

[00:29:42] Each person may be different.

[00:29:59] Applications outside of sports performance.

[00:31:48] Ketone supplements for weight loss.

[00:32:14] Gibson, A. A., et al. "Do ketogenic diets really suppress appetite? A systematic review and meta‐analysis." obesity reviews 16.1 (2015): 64-76. And Paoli, Antonio, et al. "Ketosis, ketogenic diet and food intake control: a complex relationship." (2015).

[00:33:07] Suppressed ghrelin.

[00:35:02] Plans for the future.

[00:36:23] Dominic D'Agostino. Lots of good interviews recently, including SNR #164: Dominic D’Agostino, PhD – Press-Pulse Model of Cancer Therapy, Ketones & Metabolic Drugs.

[00:36:38] Volek J[Author] & Phinney SD[Author].

[00:36:54] PHAT FIBRE study (in press).

[00:39:59] The Precision Xtra meter by Abbott measures only the physiological D-BHB.

[00:41:10] Mass spectrometry chiral analysis.

[00:41:49] Podcast: The Race to Make a Ketone Supplement, See Lincoln, Beth C., Christine Des Rosiers, and Henri Brunengraber. "Metabolism of S-3-hydroxybutyrate in the perfused rat liver." Archives of biochemistry and biophysics 259.1 (1987): 149-156.

[00:42:13] Hsu, Wei-Yu, et al. "Enantioselective determination of 3-hydroxybutyrate in the tissues of normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats of different ages." Journal of Chromatography B 879.29 (2011): 3331-3336. And Tsai, Yih-Chiao, et al. "Stereoselective effects of 3-hydroxybutyrate on glucose utilization of rat cardiomyocytes." Life sciences 78.12 (2006): 1385-1391.

[00:46:39] Book: The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes.

[00:47:14] Chris Masterjohn exchanging nutritional bogeymen.

[00:48:32] Availability of the ketone monoester.

[00:49:22] Brianna Stubbs (@BriannaStubbs) on Twitter.