Research

Hormonal

Administration of the ketone metabolite BHB-Phe (N-beta-hydroxybutyryl phenylalanine) suppresses food intake and reduces body weight in obese mice.

This research identifies a specific metabolite, BHB-Phe, which is naturally produced during ketosis and actively suppresses hunger. While the study used high-dose injections in obese mice, it suggests that maintaining ketosis may naturally elevate this compound, contributing to reduced food intake. For now, this is a mechanistic insight rather than a direct supplement recommendation, as oral bioavailability and dosing in humans are not established.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
N-beta-hydroxybutyryl phenylalanine (BHB-Phe), the most abundant BHB-amino acid, is a structural and functional congener of Lac-Phe that suppresses feeding upon administration to obese mice.
María Dolores Moya-Garzón et al. · Cell · 2024

Why this rating

Strong experimental evidence in murine models with clear dose-response and genetic validation (CNDP2-KO), though human data is limited to metabolite detection.

Source

A β-hydroxybutyrate shunt pathway generates anti-obesity ketone metabolites

María Dolores Moya-Garzón et al. · Cell · 2024

DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2024.10.032

mechanism_onlyCited 57×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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