ketone

/ˌkiˈtoʊn/

Other forms: ketones

Ketones are chemicals produced by the body when it burns fat for energy rather than sugar. When doctors find ketones in a patient's blood, it's sometimes a symptom of diabetes.

If your body doesn't have enough glucose (or sugar), your liver will produce ketones by breaking down fat. When the ketones are released into your bloodstream, your body can use them as an alternate fuel. This naturally happens at night while you sleep, as well as when you're not eating a balanced diet or regular meals. People with type 1 diabetes produce ketones due to a lack of insulin.

Definitions of ketone

1. noun

   any of a class of organic compounds having a carbonyl group linked to a carbon atom in each of two hydrocarbon radicals
   types:

   acetone, dimethyl ketone, propanone

   the simplest ketone; a highly inflammable liquid widely used as an organic solvent and as material for making plastics

   butanone, methyl ethyl ketone

   colorless soluble flammable liquid ketone used as a solvent for resins and as a paint remover and in lacquers and cements and adhesives and cleaning fluids and celluloid

   flavin

   a ketone that forms the nucleus of certain natural yellow pigments like riboflavin

   acetone body, ketone body

   a ketone that is an intermediate product of the breakdown of fats in the body; any of three compounds (acetoacetic acid, acetone, and/or beta-hydroxybutyric acid) found in excess in blood and urine of persons with metabolic disorders

   acetoacetic acid

   unstable acid found in abnormal amounts in the blood and urine in some cases of impaired metabolism (as diabetes mellitus or starvation)

   beta-hydroxybutyric acid

   beta derivative of hydroxybutyric acid that is found in the blood and urine in some cases of impaired metabolism

   type of:

   organic compound

   any compound of carbon and another element or a radical