What Are Ketones in Diabetics?

Normally your body uses glucose (sugar) to produce energy. If glucose is not available, your body burns fat for energy and produces chemicals called ketones. Glucose may not be available either because your body does not have enough insulin to burn sugar or because you have not eaten enough food.

Insulin and Diabetics

• Insulin is the hormone that controls glucose levels in the body. In diabetics, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells have lost their sensitivity to insulin.

Are Ketones Dangerous?

• In a person without diabetes, ketones are the body's normal response to starvation. However, in a person with diabetes, dangerous and life-threatening levels of ketones can develop when not enough insulin is available.

Diabetic Keto-Acidosis

• When a diabetic does not have enough insulin, the body continues to burn fat, causing the liver to make more and more ketones and ketoacids. The increasing levels make the blood pH too low (acidotic/diabetic ketoacidosis), which is an emergency that requires immediate medical attention.

Ketone Testing

• Diabetics are usually advised to test their ketone levels daily. You can do so with either a urine test or blood test available at a pharmacy. If the urine ketone test shows moderate or large levels of ketones or the blood test result is higher than 1.0 mmol/L, call your healthcare provider right away.

Considerations

• Type 1 diabetics have the highest risk of developing dangerous ketone levels. However, the risk is increased for a Type 2 diabetic who experiences a major increase in insulin resistance or reduction in insulin production.