Nutritional gummies of all types have become popular in recent years because consumers love the candy-like taste and brands tout health benefits. Keto gummies often promise all sorts of health benefits like weight loss and enhanced immunity.
But are keto gummies actually healthy or are they a waste of money? Do they actually fit into a keto diet or do they contain too many carbs? Do keto gummies 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 brands (ACV keto gummies and Keto Luxe gummies) based on clinical studies to give our take on whether they’re actually healthy or not.
We’ll share the carb content of the gummies to see if they can fit into a healthy diet, and also feature real, unsponsored keto gummy user reviews.
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. You could also eat 4 g worth of table sugar in a keto diet which 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, a medical review found that some natural flavoring agents and their metabolites may be toxic.
We do not recommend this supplement due to the additive ingredients, but what about Keto Luxe, another top keto gummy brand? We’ll review in the next section.
Keto Luxe Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Keto Luxe are shown above.
From a ketosis perspective, this product is a worse option than ACV Keto Gummies because it contains 5 g of carbs rather than 4.
And like ACV Keto Gummies, it’s 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, it seems logical to avoid all processed sweeteners.
Adipic acid is a flavor enhancer shown in a 2002 medical review to be toxic to some animals.
This supplement also contains citric acid and natural flavor like the other gummies.
We do not recommend Keto Luxe due to its additive ingredients, and consider it a worse choice than ACV Keto Gummies.
But our main issue with keto gummies aren’t the additive ingredients. It’s the lack of of clear purpose or health benefit to the supplements, which we’ll discuss in the next section.
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 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 specific benefits.
Someone on a keto diet can eat anything that contains carbs so long as the carbs are below the 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 in our opinion either.
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 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:
Are Most Keto Gummies a Scam?
A YouTube creator named Jordan Liles alleges that many keto gummy brands are scamming (or at least deceptively marketing) by associating their brands with Shark Tank, while none of the brands appear to have been featured on Shark Tank:
Real, Unsponsored Keto Gummies User Reviews
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🦋
Our Healthy Gummies Pick
Llama Naturals is our healthy gummy supplement brand recommendation. They sell supplements made from whole fruit that taste great and are entirely free of questionable additive ingredients.
Their Elderberry Immunity Gummy contains elderberry, which may be effective for preventing and reducing the duration of sickness according to a 2021 medical review. Its deep purple color comes from how rich it is in antioxidants.
Interested consumers can check out Llama Naturals Elderberry Immunity Gummy at this link to the product page on the brand's official website.
The brand's Prebiotics & Probiotics Gummy provides an effective probiotic dose, and is naturally sweetened with mineral-rich fruits like organic baobab and organic peaches. One of the probiotic strains included in this supplement is clinically shown to support a healthy microbiome.
Interested consumers can check out Llama Naturals Prebiotics & Probiotics Gummy at this link to the product page on the brand's official website.
For consumers intent on purchasing an ACV product, we recommend Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (official Amazon link here). It's the liquid form of ACV and it should be diluted in water. This is the most cost-efficient way to get the health benefits of ACV.
