KETONES
Description
- Small: <20 mg/dl
- Moderate: 30 to 40 mg/dl
- Large: >80 mg/dl
Clinical significance
- Ketones are not normally found in the urine. They are intermediate products of fat metabolism. They are produced when glucose is not available to the body's cells as an energy source.
- Ketones are formed when a person does not eat enough carbohydrates (fasting, starvation, or high-protein diets). When carbohydrates are not available, the body metabolizes fat instead to get the energy it needs to keep functioning. Strenuous exercise, exposure to cold, frequent, prolonged vomiting, and several digestive system diseases can also increase fat metabolism, resulting in ketonuria
- In diabetic patients ketones in urine may also be an early indication of insufficient insulin. With insufficient insulin, a diabetic cannot process glucose and instead metabolizes fat. This can cause ketones to build up in the blood, resulting first in ketosis and then progressing to ketoacidosis, a form of metabolic acidosis. Excess ketones and glucose are dumped into the urine by the kidneys to flush them from the body. This condition is called diabetic ketoacidosis
When to get tested
- If there is s/s of ketoacidosis (Nausea or vomiting, Abdominal pain, Confusion, Trouble breathing, Feeling extremely sleepy)
Elevated level
- Diabetes
- Chronic vomiting and/or diarrhoea
- Digestive disorder
- Strenuous exercise
- On a very low-carbohydrate diet
- Eating disorder
Decreased level
Profile
Urine Analysis
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