I turned on the radio the other day, and heard a guy claiming that when people lose weight, the fat cells in their body, as they’re dying (breaking up? shrinking?) release a foul smelling odor that escapes through the mouth, giving you bad breath. (I don’t think he was claiming that this is the primary cause of bad breath; just one of several.)
Any truth in this theory? Should I take a Certs next time I go to the gym?
It’s very true. I believe it’s called “ketosis” - a process where the body is metabolising body fat in real time to top up our blood sugar levels.
Amongst some pro road cycling friends of mine, every year around this time, the syndrome is very common as they get leaner and leaner as their weekly mileage starts ramping up and up.
I’ve know it myself over the years too. Your breath has a kind of “nail remover” smell to it.
Doesn’t that only occur with a low-carb diet such as Atkins? Someone who’s losing weight merely through more exercise/less food wouldn’t necessarily have this condition.
That’s how I understand it. Ketosis only (or primarily) occurs when you are on a low-carb diet that forces your body to metabolize fat for energy. If you’re just dieting in the traditional sense (that is, eating low-fat, low calorie foods and excersizing) there shouldn’t be anything unusual going on with your body – with the possible exception of some extraordinarily foul stuff evacuating your bowels as your body starts shedding the crap it doesn’t need anymore.
Pun unintentional. My apologies.
Ketosis and the associated “fruity” breath can also occur in diabetics and after drinking booze.
After being on Atkins last year, my fiance and I both had really terrible breath. Truly shitty breath… definitely the worst side effect. It was not the fruity or acetone smell most people associate with ketosis.
Nope… ketosis occurs WHENEVER your blood sugar levels reach a lower threshold point - regardless of your diet make up. Ketosis, as I noted earlier, is a function of depleted glycogen in your liver and muscle stores. It takes place regardless of what your diet makeup is, whether it be Atkins or Fatkins or Chatkins.
If your glycogen stores are low, your body says “ooops, my blood sugar levels are getting precariously low - time to burn body fat in real time to prop up the blood glucose levels…” This is why my pro cyclist buddies go through it so badly in January through March as they ramp up to over 1,000km per week on the bike and yet ALSO limit their calorie intake. Essentially, their bodies are in slight starvation mode - particularly during their sleep - because that’s when the greatest amount of “body fat to liver glycogen” conversion takes place.
Ketosis is the opposite of when your blood sugar levels are too high. When your blood sugar levels climb too high - for example, after eating a truckload of calories, at that point, insulin is released to start the blood glucose to body fat conversion process.
It should be noted that ketosis primarily is a morning thing - because we just fasted for 8 to 9 hours. It becomes very pronounced in athletes who are cutting down as they come into their season. But it’s a myth that it’s determined by your carb vs protein vs fat ratios. It’s purely dependant on your glycogen levels.
When I was on a diet through Medical Weight Loss Center, they would have me occaisionally pee on a strip to make sure I was not going into ketosis. They told me it was to make sure I was not cheating – my assumption being that maybe some people did not follow their prescribed diet and would just skip meals, so that they would meet their wieght targets daily, sending the body into ketosis .
In a statement defending his diet, Dr. Atkins said it gave breath an “unusual” odor that he didn’t even notice it in his patients anymore because he considered it “normal.”
The bad breath issue can be negated pretty much entirely by increasing your water intake. Ketone byproducts mostly get excreted through urine.
You people are right about it being caused by the breakdown of fat. It is not, however, because the fat cells are dying. Neither because the body is turning up the glucose level. In fact it is caused by the body not being able to convert fat into glucose. Instead it produces ketone bodies, which can enter the Krebs cycle and give energy. And, they smell.