You have an odd friend: she is convinced that she can lose weight on a diet cons

Question

You have an odd friend: she is convinced that she can lose weight on a diet consisting entirely of walrus blubber (she read it on Wikipedia so it must be true, right?!). Aside from the fact that her breath smells like a dead walrus, you are concerned because you have some knowledge of biochemistry and you have seen some glaring problems with her new diet. You suggest to her that if she intends to stay on this diet, she should supplement it with a daily regimen of odd-chain fatty acids which she can purchase at the local health food store. Why is this a good suggestion, and what will happen to her if she fails to heed your advice?

Explanation / Answer

Yes, this is a good suggestion.

Without carbohydrates, there would be no anapleurotic reactions to replenish the TCA-cycle components. With a diet of fats only, the acetyl CoA from fatty acid degradation would build up. Odd-chain fatty acids would lead to the production of propionyl CoA, which can be converted into succinyl CoA, a TCA-cycle component. It would serve to replenish the TCA cycle and mitigate the halitosis. If she fails to heed the advice there will be more production of ketone bodies which will result in bad breath. When the rate of synthesis of ketone bodies exceeds the rate of utilization, their concentration in blood increases; this is known as ketonemia. This is followed by ketonuria – excretion of ketone bodies in urine. The overall picture of ketonemia and ketonuria is commonly referred as ketosis. Smell of acetone in breath is a common feature in ketosis. Also, if levels of these ketone bodies are too high, the pH of the blood drops, resulting in ketoacidosis.

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