Nutritional gummies of all types have become popular in recent years because consumers love the candy-like taste, and brands tout health benefits. Keto gummy brands often promise all sorts of health benefits like weight loss and enhanced immunity.
But what's actually in keto gummies, and are they healthy? Do keto gummies fit into a keto diet, or do they contain too many carbs? Do they contain any unhealthy additives? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of keto gummies?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in two of the most popular keto gummies (ACV Keto Gummies and Keto Luxe gummies) to give our take on whether or not they're healthy.
We'll discuss whether or not these gummies are a good choice for individuals following a keto diet, and feature real keto gummy customer reviews, and share a video alleging that many keto gummies brands are participating in a scam.
ACV Keto Gummies Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in ACV Keto Gummies are shown above.
This is one of the most popular keto gummy brands on Amazon.
One serving of gummies provides 4 grams (g) of carbohydrates, so this product can fit in a keto diet which typically allows for 20 to 50 g of carbs per day, according to a 2022 medical review on keto diets.
But just because a gummy product contains low enough carbs to fit in a keto diet doesn’t make it a healthy choice. An individual could also consume 20 g worth of table sugar in one sitting, which would technically fit into a keto diet if no other carbs were consumed, but doing so would be unhealthy.
ACV Keto Gummies contain several additive ingredients that are questionable from a health perspective.
Glucose syrup is a high-glycemic form of added sugar, and a 2019 meta-study details how added sugar in excess can contribute to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Americans already get too much refined sugar from their diet, so we recommend avoiding it in supplements.
Citric acid is a preservative and flavor enhancer that can cause whole-body inflammation according to a review published in the Toxicology Reports journal.
Natural flavor is a broad categorical descriptor that fails to document the specific chemical compound(s) used.
As we referenced in our review of a gummy vitamin brand called Olly vitamins, at least one medical review reported that some natural flavoring agents and their metabolites may be toxic.
We consider this popular brand of keto gummies to be unhealthy.
Why Most Keto Gummies Don’t Make Sense
Ketosis is a nutritional state induced by carb restriction.
Other than taking exogenous ketones, there is no supplement that “enhances” or otherwise benefits the state of ketosis.
So for the most part, we don’t understand the point of any keto gummy supplements, and most brands fail to prove any health benefits.
Someone on a keto diet can eat anything that contains carbs, so long as the carbs are below the allowed threshold, but a food or supplement isn’t “keto” just because it contains a low dose of carbs.
Most of these gummies are almost pure sugar, and just as we would not consider eating 5 g of table sugar to be a “keto” snack, we would not consider almost any keto gummy brand on the market to be a “keto snack,” because they’re nutrient-poor and carb-rich. It’s an illogical class of supplements.
The active ingredients in these “keto” gummies will not provide any health benefits either, in our opinion.
Consider the main active ingredient in both of the keto gummies analyzed in the previous sections: 500 milligrams (mg) of apple cider vinegar.
As we documented in our article on ACV gummies benefits, the effective dose of ACV appears to be around 15,000 mg, or 33x the amount in either of the keto gummy brands referenced above.
There’s nothing wrong with eating a small amount of carbs on a keto diet, but we would not recommend using up the small carb allotment on processed gummies that contain a number of unhealthy additives like refined sugar and flavoring agents.
A YouTube video from a doctor named Brian Yeung explains in more detail why most keto gummies are a waste of money:
Keto Luxe Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Keto Luxe are shown above.
From a keto diet perspective, this product is a worse option than ACV Keto Gummies, because it contains 5 g of carbs per serving, instead of 4.
Like ACV Keto Gummies, this supplement is filled with a bunch of questionable additive ingredients.
Corn syrup is one of the least healthy sweeteners in our opinion.
A medical review published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that high-fructose corn syrup was associated with increased obesity risk.
While high-fructose corn syrup is slightly different than corn syrup, we think it's a healthy choice to avoid all "processed" sweeteners.
Adipic acid is a flavor enhancer shown in a 2002 medical review to be toxic to some animals.
Citric acid and natural flavor are also included, and we explained in the previous Ingredient Analysis section why we recommend avoiding these ingredients.
We do not recommend Keto Luxe due to its additive ingredients, and consider it a less healthy choice than ACV Keto Gummies.
Are Keto Gummies a Scam?
A YouTube creator named "The Cyber Analyst" alleges that many keto gummy brands are scamming (or at least deceptively marketing) their customers by associating their brands with Shark Tank, while none of the brands appear to have been featured on Shark Tank:
Real People Try Keto Gummies
A TikTok user named Jersey Sharp tried a keto gummy brand and claims in the comments that they caused weight gain:
@jerseysharp #goketogummies ♬ Aesthetic - Devonte Mayo
A TikTok user named Morgan shared her favorite keto gummy product based on taste:
@makingmorgan Definitely recommend trying them! #keto#lowcarb#kissmyketo#ketosnacks#ketoconvenience#ketocandy#lowcarbcandy#lifestyle#weightloss @kissmyketo_ ♬ follow me for support and motivation - nicole🦋
