Don't Mix Ketone Ester and MCT Oil! Unless you are a mouse!
I know people want to try and find ways to raise their blood ketone levels. Drinking exogenous ketones is one way to do that (see Ketone Ester vs Ketone Salts) and some will try and mix and match things like MCT and Esters.
Turns out that MCT oil, specifically the C8 strongest version of coconut oil DOES mix well with Ketone Salts. Some even have patents on this combo. If this works for you, great.
But Ketone Esters and MCT oil don't work well. This may be the opposite of some findings in mice studies, but mice can't complain to researchers about the pain that may occur. We aren't sure why there is pain, but many experience the gastro pains that are already associated with "too much" C8 when they also have ketone ester in a 2-4 hour window. Many report it is as if they took double their tolerance levels of C8. See what happened to my wife in this video. One theory is half of the ester goes through the liver to make ketones, just like C8, so maybe this competition creates issues.
Why C8? Well this molecule is smaller and make BHB in the blood. But only 15% of it, so it is still high in calories. Also you can only take a limited amount. What I suggest is if you are on a keto diet, just use cheap liquid coconut oil and add that to all your meals. You can take 5x more of it and indirectly help your body make endogenous ketones from hitting your 80 fat / 15 protein / 5 carb macros.
Frank LLosa
CEO KetoneAid
Disclaimer: KetoneAid is biased. We don't sell C8 MCT products. Some may try C8 and build a tolerance over 1 month to raise their blood ketones to levels approaching a micro amount of ketone ester (ie 50 cents of oil vs $2 of ketone ester). Yes technically this is cheaper, but many report it just doesn't work as well. See for yourself.
