The ketogenic diet, or keto diet, has gained popularity as a high-fat, low-carbohydrate approach to shift the body into ketosis. This metabolic state allows the body to use fat for energy instead of glucose. Keto gummies are supplements marketed to support a ketogenic diet and help with weight loss, energy, and metabolism, among other things.
Understanding Keto and Ketosis
The keto diet involves a restricted list of foods like meat, eggs, nuts, and fish, while avoiding foods like fruit, sugar, beans, and high-carb veggies. When the body doesn’t have sufficient amounts of carbohydrates, it enters “nutritional ketosis” and starts to break down fat for energy. It typically takes a few days of strict carbohydrate restriction to enter this state. Once the body enters a state of ketosis, it begins producing ketones, which are then used for fuel.
What are Keto Gummies?
Keto gummies are supplements that resemble ordinary chewable vitamins but offer a different purported health benefit. These products claim to help keep your body in ketosis. Keto gummies are marketed as a way to help boost ketone levels in the blood.
Keto gummies are made with exogenous ketones, which is a term for ketones you get from an outside source. Your body makes ketones on its own through the foods you eat. 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.
Common Ingredients 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. Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil may provide a quick source of energy. Sometimes, keto gummies may contain gelatin or natural sweeteners like Stevia. It’s not like eating a traditional gummy. It’s not going to have any additional sugars because if it did, then it would throw you out of ketosis.
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Exogenous ketones are produced outside of the body and consumed orally (as opposed to endogenous ketones that are produced inside the body). Exogenous ketones include ketone salts and ketone esters, which have different chemical structures and potencies, with esters considered more potent.
When choosing a keto gummy, opt for something that fits in your budget and buy a small batch at first to make sure you like it.
Potential Benefits of Keto Gummies
There’s limited research on the benefits of keto gummies. There aren’t any studies that have shown the long-term effects of keto gummies and if they’re beneficial. Potential benefits include:
- Increase weight loss.
- Improve athletic performance.
- Decrease your appetite.
Whether keto gummies or other keto supplements can actually keep you in ketosis has been inconclusive, according to research. Supplements may increase the amount of ketones too much. Ideally, your body wants to maintain an even level of ketones. And when this happens, your liver may not produce as many ketones naturally, making it harder to stay in ketosis.
Potential Risks of Keto Gummies
Before you decide to try keto gummies, it’s also worth understanding the potential risks. Those potential risks include:
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- Nausea and vomiting.
- Gastrointestinal issues, like diarrhea.
- Low blood sugar.
You run the risk of GI issues if your keto gummies use sorbitol, which is known as a laxative. You should be cautious if you’re going try it. Slowly introduce keto gummies to see how you do because you don’t want to all sudden just kind of overdo it and have those side effects and not be very happy.
The keto diet - and the addition of a keto supplement like gummies - can potentially lower your blood sugar, leading to hypoglycemic responses, and it can dehydrate you as well.
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.
Should You Try Keto Gummies?
Before you hop on the keto gummy bandwagon, consider looking at your diet first if you’re struggling to stay in ketosis. What is the reason that your body isn’t staying in ketosis? Are you overdoing it on carbohydrates? Is it because you’re getting bored? Is it because you’re still hungry?
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 you could certainly try keto gummies.
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Regulatory Considerations
Dietary supplements are not approved for safety or efficacy by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and ingredients and their amounts may vary. These products are not evidence-based and often rely on misleading marketing. It’s important to note that being in ketosis, however, is generally considered safe.