Apple cider vinegar (ACV) has been a staple in kitchens and traditional medicine for centuries. Made from the fermented juice of crushed apples, it contains acetic acid and nutrients like B vitamins and vitamin C. It is popularly used in cooking and salad dressings. Recently, apple cider vinegar gummies have emerged as a popular supplement, promising a convenient way to reap the potential benefits of ACV. These gummies often combine ACV concentrate with other ingredients like vitamins and fruit extracts, marketed to support immune function, promote weight loss, and regulate blood sugar. However, it's crucial to examine the science behind these claims and understand the potential side effects.
What are Keto ACV Gummies
Keto ACV gummies are dietary supplements containing ACV concentrate and other ingredients like vitamins and fruit extracts. These gummies are marketed as a way to help boost ketone levels in the blood.
Ingredients found in keto gummies
Most keto gummies typically contain medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), a type of saturated fat that helps give your body energy, in addition to exogenous ketones. Sometimes, keto gummies may contain gelatin or natural sweeteners like Stevia.
Potential Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is made by combining apples with yeast. The yeast converts the sugar in the apples into alcohol. Bacteria are then added to the mixture and ferment the alcohol into acetic acid. Acetic acid makes up 5-6% of apple cider vinegar. In addition to acetic acid, vinegar contains water and trace amounts of other acids, vitamins, and minerals.
Several studies in animals and humans have found that acetic acid and apple cider vinegar may promote fat-burning and weight loss, decrease blood sugar levels, increase insulin sensitivity, and improve cholesterol levels.
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Weight Management
Some studies suggest potential weight loss benefits for people who consume at least 1 ounce (30 ml) of organic liquid ACV - not ACV gummies. A 2020 review of 13 human and 12 animal studies concluded that there was not enough credible evidence to determine whether ACV has any beneficial effects on weight loss.
Although drinking ACV has been associated with several possible benefits, more research is needed to determine how ACV gummies may affect health.
Blood Sugar Regulation
Apple cider vinegar might help lower blood sugar levels after a meal by changing how foods are absorbed from the gut. However, further analysis showed that the reduction in fasting blood sugar was only significant in participants with diabetes. Additionally, taking ACV for more than 8 weeks may be necessary to see a meaningful benefit on blood sugar and total cholesterol levels.
Interestingly, a small, randomized control study published in 2020 found that vinegar supplements do not have the same effect on blood sugar as liquid vinegar. The study showed that the liquid vinegar resulted in a 31% greater reduction in post-meal blood sugar compared with the control and whole vinegar tablets. Liquid vinegar also proved more effective than the vinegar tablets dissolved in water. All this suggests that ACV supplements don’t have the same effect on blood sugar as drinking ACV.
Other potential benefits
Any supposed health benefits of ACV gummies may come from the added vitamins and minerals in the supplement. For example, if you’re low in vitamin B12 and consume B12 in the form of ACV gummies, this may help increase your body’s B12 levels. However, even though you need B12 and other B vitamins to stay energized and combat fatigue, you might be disappointed to discover that ACV gummies may not boost your energy as advertised. You’ll get similar or better results from taking a B complex vitamin every day. The same can be applied to the other vitamins and minerals that have been added to ACV gummies.
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Some studies show that taking beetroot and pomegranate juices - ingredients in many ACV gummies - can help reduce markers of inflammation. However, to see any anti-inflammatory benefits, you would need to consume far more than the 40 microgram (mcg) dose provided by many ACV gummies.
Claims that these supplements offer support with your blood sugar levels, weight loss goals, inflammation, detoxification, and energy levels remain unfounded. Although there’s some evidence that drinking ACV may help reduce blood lipid levels and blood sugar levels in some people, these findings can’t be applied to ACV supplements or gummies.
Potential benefits of keto gummies
There’s limited research on the benefits of keto gummies. Potential benefits include increasing weight loss, improving athletic performance and decreasing your appetite. But, again, whether keto gummies or other keto supplements can actually keep you in ketosis has been inconclusive, according to research.
Side Effects and Precautions
While consuming apple cider vinegar in food amounts is likely safe, and possibly safe when used as a medicine short-term, it is possibly unsafe when used in large amounts, long-term. Consuming large amounts of apple cider vinegar long-term might lead to problems such as low levels of potassium. Applying apple cider vinegar to the skin is possibly unsafe and can cause chemical burns in some people.
It's important to be aware of the potential negative effects of apple cider vinegar, especially when consumed in large doses. Although small amounts are generally fine and healthy, consuming too much can be harmful and even dangerous.
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Digestive Issues
Apple cider vinegar may cause unpleasant digestive symptoms in some people. Apple cider vinegar may help reduce appetite, but it may also cause feelings of nausea, particularly when consumed as part of a drink with an unpleasant flavor. Research suggests apple cider vinegar may slow the rate at which food leaves the stomach. This may worsen symptoms of gastroparesis and make blood sugar management more difficult for people with type 1 diabetes.
Low Potassium Levels and Bone Loss
There is one case report of low potassium levels and osteoporosis likely caused by drinking too much apple cider vinegar.
Erosion of Tooth Enamel
Acidic foods and beverages have been shown to damage tooth enamel. The acetic acid in vinegar may weaken dental enamel and lead to loss of minerals and tooth decay.
Throat and Skin Burns
Apple cider vinegar has the potential to cause esophageal (throat) burns. The acetic acid in apple cider vinegar has caused throat burns in children. There have been reports of skin burns occurring in response to attempts to treat moles and infections with apple cider vinegar.
Drug Interactions
A few medications may interact with apple cider vinegar:
- Diabetes medication: People who take insulin or insulin-stimulating medications and consume vinegar may experience dangerously low blood sugar or potassium levels. Taking apple cider vinegar along with diabetes medications might cause blood sugar to drop too low. Monitor your blood sugar closely.
- Digoxin (Lanoxin): This medication lowers your blood potassium levels. Taking digoxin in combination with apple cider vinegar could lower your potassium too much. Large amounts of apple cider vinegar may decrease potassium levels in the body. Low potassium levels can increase the side effects of digoxin.
- Certain diuretic drugs: Some diuretic medications cause your body to excrete potassium. To prevent potassium levels from dropping too low, do not consume these drugs with large amounts of vinegar. "Water pills" can also decrease potassium levels. Taking apple cider vinegar along with "water pills" might make potassium levels drop too low.
Potential risks of keto gummies
Potential risks of keto gummies include nausea and vomiting, gastrointestinal issues, like diarrhea and low blood sugar. You run the risk of GI issues if your keto gummies use sorbitol, which is known as a laxative.
Special Precautions and Warnings
There isn't enough reliable information to know if apple cider vinegar is safe to use as a medicine when pregnant or breast-feeding. Stay on the safe side and stick to food amounts. Apple cider vinegar might lower potassium levels in the blood. If your potassium is already low, apple cider vinegar might make it too low. Don't use apple cider vinegar if you have this condition. People with underlying health conditions like kidney disease or diabetes, people who are pregnant or nursing, children, or anyone on medications affecting blood sugar shouldn’t use keto gummies.
Dosage and How to Consume ACV Safely
Apple cider vinegar is commonly used in foods. In the US, there's no specific definition of what a product must contain to be called apple cider vinegar. Sometimes it's standardized to acidity, with concentrations ranging from 4% to 8%. But the amount of each component of apple cider vinegar may vary from product to product.
When used as medicine, there isn't enough reliable information to know what an appropriate dose of apple cider vinegar might be. Speak with a healthcare provider to find out what dose might be best for a specific condition.
Most people can safely consume reasonable amounts of apple cider vinegar by following these general guidelines:
- Limit your intake: Start with a small amount and gradually work up to a maximum of 2 tablespoons (30 mL) per day, diluted in water, depending on your personal tolerance.
- Minimize your tooth exposure to acetic acid: Try diluting the vinegar in water and drinking it through a straw.
- Rinse your mouth: Rinse with water after taking it. To prevent further enamel damage, wait at least 30 minutes before brushing your teeth.
- Consider avoiding it if you have gastroparesis: Avoid apple cider vinegar or limit the amount to 1 teaspoon (5 mL) in water or salad dressing.
- Be aware of allergies: Allergies to apple cider vinegar are rare, but if you experience an allergic reaction, stop taking it immediately and call your doctor.
Keto diet and Keto gummies
The keto diet - a high-fat diet that keeps your body in a state of ketosis - has its perks. It can help your metabolism speed up, increase your muscle mass and improve your blood pressure - all while helping you lose fat. And it’s all thanks to ketosis, which is when your body uses ketones, a fatty acid, for energy instead of glucose. Keeping your body in ketosis can be hard - doing so includes eating a restricted list of foods like meat, eggs, nuts and fish and avoiding foods like fruit, sugar, beans and high-carb veggies. And that’s why you’ve probably seen information on keto pills, keto oil and keto powders - as well as keto gummies. These different products claim they help keep your body in ketosis.
Keto gummies are made with exogenous ketones, which is a fancy term for ketones you get from an outside source. “Your body makes ketones on its own through the foods you eat,” explains registered dietitian Beth Czerwony, RD, LD. “Keto gummies are a supplement that adds exogenous ketones into your body, which may help continue ketosis.”
It’s important to note that keto gummies (or any keto supplement, for that matter) don’t put you in ketosis. “Keto gummies may help the process of ketosis continue, but you need to be in ketosis first,” clarifies Czerwony.
Should you try keto gummies?
Before you hop on the keto gummy bandwagon, Czerwony suggests looking at your diet first if you’re struggling to stay in ketosis. Consider making the necessary tweaks to your keto diet so you’re getting enough calories or fiber. Doing so can be a healthier option instead of turning to keto gummies. But if you’re following the keto diet, everything seems to be running fine and you want to see a boost to your weight loss, then I think you could certainly try keto gummies.