Ketone Ester Intervention in Alcohol Use Disorder
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04616781. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
Effects of Ketone Ester on Brain Function and Alcohol Consumption in Alcohol Use Disorder
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
The purpose of this research is to study how a nutritional ketone ester may effect brain function and alcohol consumption in regular alcohol users. The study will see how the brain responds, once after drinking the ketone ester and once after drinking a "placebo", which will look and taste the same as the ketone ester drink. Metabolic ketosis induced by a ketogenic diet has been previously shown to elevate brain ketone bodies and reduce alcohol withdrawal symptoms in humans with AUD, and reduce alcohol consumption in alcohol-dependent rats. The study investigates whether metabolic ketosis induced by a one-dose nutritional ketone ester (KE) reduces brain reactivity to alcohol cues (fMRI), alcohol craving and alcohol consumption in humans with AUD, and if KE elevates ketone bodies using proton spectroscopy. This study uses a double blind, random ordered, 2-way crossover design in n=20 non-treatment seeking AUD who come in on two separate testing days: on one testing day the participants consume KE ((R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate), and on another testing day a drink with isocaloric dextrose (DEXT), after which participants are scanned for 1H-MRS and fMRI and complete an alcohol consumption paradigm each day after scanning.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT04616781
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 2, Phase 3
- Enrollment
- 20 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- Alcohol drinks Other
- Isocaloric dextrose placebo Drug
- Ketone Ester "(R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate" Dietary Supplement
Other · Drug · Dietary Supplement
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 21 Years to 65 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Apr 4, 2021
- Primary completion
- Nov 30, 2026
- Completion
- Jun 30, 2027
- Last update posted
- Feb 8, 2026
2021 – 2027
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Pennsylvania Center for Studies of Addiction | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 19104 | Recruiting |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
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About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04616781, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Feb 8, 2026 · Synced Jul 29, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT04616781 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.