The keto diet, a high-fat regimen designed to induce ketosis, has gained popularity for its potential benefits, including accelerated metabolism, increased muscle mass, improved blood pressure, and fat loss. Ketosis occurs when the body utilizes ketones, derived from fatty acids, for energy instead of glucose. Achieving and maintaining ketosis requires strict adherence to a limited food list, emphasizing meats, eggs, nuts, and fish while avoiding fruits, sugar, beans, and high-carbohydrate vegetables. This restriction has led to the emergence of keto supplements like pills, oils, powders, and gummies, all claiming to support ketosis.
What are Keto Gummies?
Keto gummies contain exogenous ketones, which are ketones sourced externally. "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 is crucial to understand that keto gummies, like other keto supplements, do not initiate ketosis. "Keto gummies may help the process of ketosis continue, but you need to be in ketosis first," clarifies Czerwony.
Keto gummies are marketed as a way to help boost ketone levels in the blood. They resemble ordinary chewable vitamins but offer a different purported health benefit and are supplements marketed to help support a ketogenic diet and help with weight loss, energy and metabolism, among other things.
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. “Sometimes, keto gummies may contain gelatin or natural sweeteners like Stevia,” notes Czerwony. “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.”
Medium-Chain Triglycerides (MCTs)
Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil may provide a quick source of energy, explains Rancourt.
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Exogenous Ketones
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.
Other Ingredients
"There are a lot of options available and they all seem comparable," says Czerwony. "I would suggest opting 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
Research on the benefits of keto gummies is limited. "There aren’t any studies that have shown the long-term effects of keto gummies and if they’re beneficial," states Czerwony. It’s important to note that dietary supplements are not approved for safety or efficacy by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and ingredients and their amounts may vary.
Potential benefits, as suggested by Czerwony, include:
- Increase weight loss.
- Improve athletic performance.
- Decrease your appetite.
However, studies on whether keto gummies or other keto supplements can actually keep you in ketosis has been inconclusive, according to research. One study explains that 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. “There’s no credible evidence that keto gummies can reliably initiate or maintain ketosis,” says Schwartz. “These products are not evidence-based and often rely on misleading marketing,” says Schwartz.
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Potential Risks of Keto Gummies
Before trying keto gummies, it's essential to understand the potential risks.
Czerwony says those potential risks include:
- 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,” warns Czerwony. “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,” she says. “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, notes Rancourt.
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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. “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 I think you could certainly try keto gummies,” says Czerwony.
The Bottom Line
It’s important to do your research and understand the potential risks and potential benefits, while understanding that there’s no conclusive research that keto gummies do in fact work. But if you want to try keto gummies, make sure you talk to a healthcare provider first. And remember that keto gummies are an addition to your keto diet plan - they don’t replace it. You may only reap the potential benefits if you use them consistently.
Being in ketosis, however, is generally considered safe.