People in Search of Weight Loss Hacks Are Turning to Keto Gummies — but Are They Safe?
Keto gummies are sometimes marketed with apple cider vinegar as the main weight loss-boosting ingredient.
Published Jul. 10 2024, 12:14 p.m. ET
A ketogenic diet prioritizes higher fat and protein while minimizing or completely excluding carbohydrates. It is often heavy in meat consumption, making a vegan keto diet possible but less frequently practiced, and adherents speak to the weight loss value the diet brings.
Some followers of the keto diet turn to supplements, like gummies, to aid in the weight loss process and meet their fitness goals.
Find out below if supplements like these types of keto gummies are safe, if they are effective, and if they have a place in your fitness and health regimen.
Are keto gummies safe?
Utilizing supplements in a largely unregulated industry carries inherent risks. This is especially true for those with existing health conditions, making keto gummies a potentially unsafe option for many.
Keto diet practitioners keep their bodies in a state of ketosis by abstaining from certain foods, per the Cleveland Clinic, and including keto gummies in such a diet may place the dieter at an unnecessary risk for nausea, vomiting, stomach issues, diarrhea, and low blood sugar.
“You run the risk of GI issues if your keto gummies use sorbitol, which is known as a laxative,” registered dietitian Beth Czerwony told the Cleveland Clinic. “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.”
Additionally, per Czerwony, individuals with high blood pressure concerns as well as those with Type 2 diabetes should exercise responsible supplementation of their diet, as keto gummies may dehydrate such individuals and lower their blood sugar to unsafe levels.
Do keto gummies work?
Supplementation of fitness and weight loss aids, such as beta-hydroxy beta-methyl butyrate (also known as HMB), may anecdotally work for those who are healthy enough to use them, but current research is unclear if keto gummies provide the silver bullet for weight loss they are purported to do.
As for D-beta-hydroxybutyrate (or D-BHB) commonly found in keto weight loss gummies, scientific evidence is lacking to support the bold claims from keto gummy companies, according to Forbes Health.
“Keto gummies claim that they can promote energy, focus, and weight loss, but there isn’t any scientific evidence to support these claims,” UTHealth Houston School of Public Health registered dietitian Dolores Woods tells Forbes Health. “The safety and efficacy of the use of exogenous ketones in the form of beta-hydroxybutyrate (D-BHB) has not been documented in scientific literature.”
Additionally, some keto gummy companies and weight loss gummy companies in general rely on consumer deception.
There are some advertisements claiming celebrities like Oprah, Kelly Clarkson, and Dolly Parton endorse keto gummies, per Reuters. An advertisement spoofing a news report also attests to the product's efficacy, allegedly impressing the hosts of the show Shark Tank, per AARP.
However, as California's ABC 10 news station reveals, these claims are false, and such celebrities and television shows do not endorse the efficaciousness of keto gummies.
In fact, weight loss gummies have earned the scorn of the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration alike, per ABC 10. These oversight bodies have issued public warnings in the past to help consumers avoid scams for products like these.
