Digital Social Hour
Why Ketones Are the Next Big Thing in Human Optimization | Michael Brandt DSH #1226
Sat, 08 Mar 2025
🔥 Michael Brandt on Ketone-IQ, Biohacking & The Future of Energy 🚀 In this high-performance episode, we sit down with Michael Brandt, co-founder of Ketone-IQ, to discuss how ketones are revolutionizing energy, brain health, and athletic performance. Topics Covered: ✅ How ketones fuel the brain & body for peak performance ✅ The science behind Ketone-IQ & why it’s a game changer ✅ The downside of caffeine & why ketones are a better alternative ✅ How the military, UFC fighters, and top athletes are using ketones ✅ The future of energy drinks & the rise of biohacking This episode is packed with insights on biohacking, longevity, and the next evolution of human performance! 📲 Follow Ketone-IQ & Michael Brandt 🔗 Ketone-IQ Website: https://hvmn.com 🔗 Instagram: @KetoneIQ 🔗 Michael Brandt Instagram: @MichaelDBrandt ⏱ CHAPTERS ⏳ 00:00 – How Ketones Fuel the Brain & Body ⏳ 03:15 – What is Ketone-IQ & How It Works ⏳ 07:30 – The Science Behind Ketones & Athletic Performance ⏳ 12:10 – Why Ketones Are a Better Energy Source Than Caffeine ⏳ 15:45 – How Ketones Help with Brain Health & Concussions ⏳ 20:20 – The Future of Energy Drinks & the Downside of Sugar & Caffeine ⏳ 24:10 – How the Military, UFC Fighters, & Elite Athletes Use Ketones ⏳ 28:40 – The Rise of Biohacking & Performance Optimization ⏳ 32:15 – Michael Brandt’s Experience with a 7-Day Fast ⏳ 35:00 – The Future of Ketones in Sports & Everyday Life 🎙 Sponsored by Ketone-IQ Unlock better energy, focus, and performance with Ketone-IQ – the cleanest fuel for your brain and body. Used by athletes, military, and biohackers worldwide! 💪 Get yours now at https://hvmn.com and experience the future of energy! 🚀 🔥 Apply to Be on the Podcast & Business Inquiries: 🎙 APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application 📩 BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected]
Chapter 1: How do ketones benefit brain health?
Ketones are really interesting for the brain. A big part of why you already make ketones is because your brain uses a ton of ketones. And when you have a concussion, you get hit in the head, you interfere with your brain's ability to do metabolism, to basically generate oxygen, because you have broken blood vessels and stuff. Energy can't get in.
But ketones rescue a lot of what would otherwise be an energy deficit. They just get in your brain really easily. And so people have been trying different ketogenic diet or what if I have a bunch of MCT oil that your body can kind of convert MCT oil into ketones. People have tried a lot of stuff like in and around what we're doing with Ketone IQ. We do our jobs right.
Then every single one of those blue tents on the side of NFL sidelines will be pouring out ketones every time someone gets hit. Like I think brain health is, I think, going to be the next frontier for just everyone in the next like five years.
Yeah. All right, guys. We got Michael from Keytone here today. Cheers, brother. Cheers, bro. Tastes good, man. So what did we just take? Can you explain what's going on here?
Chapter 2: What is Ketone-IQ and how does it work?
We just took a shot of pure ketones and ketones are something your body already makes. A lot of people know about the ketogenic diet, right? Where if you don't eat any carbs, you force your body to make a lot of ketones. The truth is we all already have ketones flowing around our body. And there's really powerful metabolic source of fuel that your brain especially loves.
We were the first ever to figure out how to make it in a shot. We ferment it, make it in a shot, and it's just super fuels, high performance energy.
Hmm. Yeah. You're going to disrupt the space because a lot of energy shots and drinks don't use the highest quality ingredients, right?
Yeah, they don't. A lot of it just, you know, caffeine plus sucralose or sugar, just like photocopy. And then to that point, a lot of times it's got a lot of other weird stuff that gets you cracked out. Right. We're all about, I'm a marathon runner. I run 10 miles a day. I care a lot about high performance. And so I wanted to make the best, healthiest energy.
Yeah. I don't know what it is with coffee, but sometimes I get anxiety on it. Yeah. Weird. Like my heart will start like racing.
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Chapter 3: Why are ketones a better alternative to caffeine?
Yeah, I think caffeine is going through a moment right now, kind of a negative moment, where people are realizing it's not just this wonder drug. You can't just have more and more and more and more caffeine. For a lot of people, it actually has some drawbacks. It can be anxiety-inducing. It interferes with your sleep.
A lot of people are wearing—50 million Americans have an Aura or a Whoop or an Apple Watch. Damn, 50 million? 50 million, and they're measuring their sleep score, and they're saying, hey, caffeine messes me up. And so I think caffeine got this pass, basically, for the last—
oh it's caffeine's been around for all of human history and it's gotten this passive like okay well it's the go-to thing to keep you focused and dialed but like a lot of people want a better boost smarter form of energy right they're turning to different kinds of mushrooms obviously what we're doing with ketone iq like different ways to get a better boost that are maybe more more uh better for your long-term energy optimization than yeah so no caffeine in the shot right
No caffeine in the shot. We have a version where we stack ketones and caffeine. If you want a little caffeine, it's not too cracked out. It's just 100 milligrams of caffeine on top of the ketones. But our main, our biggest seller is honestly just the straight ketone.
Yeah. It's so easy to just take a shot and you're good for how long on average?
Yeah. A few hours. If you're doing something active, you're running, you're going to burn it off sooner. A lot of people have it just at their desk and it lasts a few hours.
I'm big on mental performance. So I'll take this like before I film and I kind of notice it. I don't know if it's placebo or not, but yeah, I definitely feel like there's something.
It's got this nice dial-in feel. People have done intermittent fasting or a keto diet. You get this mental sharpness, and it's a nice feeling.
I mean, for me as a podcaster, that's important. You want to be on top of your game, right? You don't want to be feeling like shit when you're going into an episode.
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Chapter 4: How did Michael Brandt's 7-day fast inspire the creation of Ketone-IQ?
I'm not that good. I, to me, it's one of those things where it's like slippery slope. Like I start getting into it, you know, like chess.com and then I'm just like not doing my job job. Like I played a lot of sports, a lot of games as a kid, as a Starcraft civilization, Counter-Strike, all that stuff. And then once I started becoming an adult, like to me, my Shopify store is my video game. Hmm.
I love that. Because I'm just trying to click on stuff and like make the number go up. Yeah. And so every time I start getting into chess or any other game, it's like it starts peeling my attention away. Distraction. If I ever, you know, whatever, get FU money and retire and all that, maybe I'll get into chess.
But for me right now, I just turned all my calories into like the main video game, which is Shopify store.
All right. Shout out to today's sponsor, Keytone IQ. Ketone IQ is a clean energy shot that boosts mental and physical performance. It helps your body access ketones without needing a strict keto diet. There's no sugar, no caffeine, no crashes or jitters, and it supports recovery.
It aids in reducing inflammation and accelerating muscle recovery after workouts, which is great for me as a basketball player. Also, it keeps me mentally sharp. I feel energized with no crash when I take this. I take this when I'm filming podcasts. As you guys know, I film a ton of podcasts back to back. This product's an absolute game changer and I love that it's all natural.
Shout out to Keytone IQ. I actually had to delete the chess.com app a few days ago. Because like you, I'm too addicted. Because the thing is, if you lose, you don't want to end on a loss. So you got to keep playing until you win. And sometimes you lose like seven straight. That's how chess is. It's a brutal sport.
It's so funny. It's like a mind virus.
And it takes years to actually get good at it. I'm two years in and I'm only like a 1400, which is like still pretty bad. Magnus is like 2800. Crazy, dude. You mentioned fasting earlier. So you did a seven day fast, which is the longest I've heard in a while.
Yeah. Yeah. I did a seven day fast early on when I was starting the company. I've always been really interested in performance optimization. I'm an engineer, studied engineering at Stanford. And when I got out, I was really curious about the human body as a platform. We got all these devices and sensors that are more accessible than ever before.
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Chapter 5: How are ketones used by the military and athletes?
We got the money and it was like, all right, now you got to do $6 million worth of research. So we did all this stuff with like hypoxia, which is like, you know, like in Batman Bane, like that mask. You see people exercising with one of those. We did a ton of research on that and like low oxygen, measuring different biomarkers, seeing how people perform physically.
at stress and then okay what if you give them ketones versus what if you give them a placebo and so we were able to really see some amazing results and that was that was what kicked this all off and it was still a lot of grinding for several years and really like brought the technology out uh in 2022 yeah so for for a little while this really is like research kind of hypothesis and
early signals like it's always really good as a entrepreneur if like an extreme if like special forces are buying and at the time it costs thirty dollars you got special forces buying your stuff for thirty dollars like you might be on it something damn one shot was 30 one shot was 30 bucks you you got to figure it out.
It's probably not going to go mainstream if it's $30 a shot, but like, if you can get it going, it's always, let's get it going. Like the first, the first computer was like the size of, you've seen those photos, right?
It's the size of a room.
Yeah. It's the size of a room. It's the size of a U-Haul. And then like, now you got that much in your, in your pocket. So early innovations often start like too big, too expensive, too hard to use, all that stuff. But if you can find a, a market for that, and then slowly like sand down the friction on it, then you will probably have something that's going to be really good and,
100%.
I love that. How'd you get that contract? Was it luck or was it... Did you really pursue that?
I mean, you know how it is. Like, luck, hard work, it's like... Everything, right? I think the harder you work in life, the more lotto tickets you get. Yeah. And you can't determine your success on any one lotto ticket, but, like... if you work hard and get more lotto tickets, you're like bound to, it's bound to click. So yeah, we had Andreessen Horowitz, you know, like Mark Andreessen.
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Chapter 6: What are the challenges and successes in launching Ketone-IQ?
If you're looking at it daily, it's not a fun thing to hold. No.
How important is cardio? Dude, cardio is so important. Cardio is the longevity drug. And I think anyone who's not doing cardio is honestly just coping. Like, cardio is so freaking important. There was this study published in the New England Journal of Medicine where they showed that they measured VO2 max, which is the measure of basically how good your cardio is.
It's like how much oxygen you can take at your maximum. which is a mark for how healthy is your heart, how healthy is your lungs, how healthy are your blood vessels. Basically, they said in the top third of cardio fitness people versus the bottom third, you're 45% less likely to die from all-cause mortality than if you're in the top third of VO2 max. Damn.
And so literally cardio is the longevity drug. It's really funny, Sean, because you see a lot of different, you know, influencer types out there that are doing like, oh, I'm measuring my nighttime boners and biomarker. And it's like, you're just inventing something. Like VO2 max is... what scientists have been looking at for 50 plus years as the marker for cardiovascular health.
And that's the thing to actually optimize for. You can optimize that. That is the longevity drug. All these other things like, OK, you can measure your overnight boners and then like take some Cialis to optimize your nighttime boners. It's like you're optimizing the wrong thing like that. Having a better nighttime boner isn't what makes you live longer.
It's like it correlates because, yeah, if you have better blood flow and better.
functioning overall body system you're gonna have better nighttime bonus but it's like you can't optimize for it's like you see like a bunch of fast cars and they're all red and then you go paint your car red it's like that's not what actually makes your car right red and so i think i think there's been this interesting i think pendulum swing away from cardio and i just it's the obvious longevity drug i think literally reason more people don't do more cardio is just hard
Yeah. People are lazy.
Yeah.
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Chapter 7: Why is cardio considered the longevity drug?
The transparency has been awesome because we've never seen where the money goes.
Yeah. Ever. I think I think it's so American like that. We just want to know what's our tax dollars. It's an awesome tea party. Right. It's like, where's where's our taxes going?
Yeah. I mean, we're spending, you know, a lot of money on taxes. Forty percent. Your state's 50 percent. Right. California is not 52 percent. So you're spending more than you make on taxes.
Yeah, people got to be, I think, stomping their feet on what's it going to be. Again, I think taxes that make society better are good. I think something like public schools, that whether you have a kid or not a kid, a better public school system, probably better for society is my personal belief. I do think taxes are helpful to a degree to help society, and then we all win. Better schools, okay.
Better, smarter workforce. Better GDP. China doesn't peel out ahead. Like, good thing to do there, but, like, let's make sure it's actually going where we think it's even going. Facts. Like, even if you are a, like, pro, you know, common good, pro-government-should-do-stuff person, you should still want accountability.
Yeah. Yeah, I'm not opposed to taxes if it was being used correctly.
Yes.
Which it hasn't been.
Yeah.
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Chapter 8: What is the impact of metabolic health on Americans?
I'll hit up the Big Justice guy. You seen that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's coming on the podcast. Okay, cool, cool. I feel like they have some pull at Costco these days.
Yeah.
They blew them up, right?
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we're kind of some big retailers. You know, we've been doing a lot of work with John Jones. Yeah, I saw that.
So he takes us before Vites? Yeah, yeah. Wow. He's cool. That's the GOAT right there.
Yeah, no, truly. And he's awesome. He's like, I mean, we've kind of spent some good time together. He's like, he's totally a gentle giant.
He's one of the most misunderstood athletes of all time.
Once you're around him, he's just, like, so based. Like, he's actually just very wise and, like, mission-driven and kind and, like... I think he's been through some ups and downs. No doubt. Like, he's been through some of it. I think if you were 19 years old and, like, goat at anything, like, he was actually the UFC heavyweight champ at age 19.
Which is crazy.
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