Meaning & use
ketosis
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Meaning
noununcountablemedicalbiology
A metabolic state in which the body burns fat and produces ketones for energy instead of using glucose.
Grammar: Uncountable; used with 'in' or 'into': 'The body goes into ketosis.'
Patterns
- in ketosis
- go into ketosis
- reach ketosis
After several days of very low carbohydrate intake, the body may enter ketosis.
Doctors sometimes monitor patients in ketosis to make sure their blood chemistry stays safe.
A strict ketogenic diet is designed to keep the body in ketosis.
Common combinations
- go into ketosis
- When glycogen stores run low, the body can go into ketosis.
- be in ketosis
- She checked her urine strips to see whether she was in ketosis.
- nutritional ketosis
- Nutritional ketosis is different from the dangerous state seen in uncontrolled diabetes.
- ketosis occurs
- Ketosis occurs when the liver turns fat into ketone bodies.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ketogenesis
- This means the actual production of ketones, while ketosis is the resulting state of the whole body.
Word family
- ketone noun
- A chemical produced when the body breaks down fat for fuel.
- ketogenic adjective
- Describing a diet or process that leads to ketosis.
- ketotic adjective
- Relating to or showing ketosis.
Commonly confused: ketosis or ketoacidosis?
ketosis vs ketoacidosis
Ketoacidosis is a serious, life-threatening buildup of acids in the blood, often in diabetes. Ketosis is a milder, usually normal metabolic state.
Practice
During a very low-carb diet, the body may ___ ketosis within a few days.
Choose one answer.
'Enter ketosis' is the standard collocation for moving into this metabolic state. 'Make ketosis' and 'do ketosis' are not used, and 'take ketosis' suggests taking something, which is wrong here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ketosis”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.