Keto Pills: This Is What the Research Says (2023)

Whatever the problem, someone is marketing a pill for the answer. This is doubly true when it comes to health and body weight issues. So it's no surprise that there are many "advanced keto pills" and other keto supplements that claim to help your body burn fat, increase energy, and support your overall well-being through ketosis.

If you got here, you probably have a pretty good idea of ​​what ketosis is. Whether it does or not, we'll get into the details a bit later. For now, here's a tweet-sized definition: Ketosis is what happens to your body when it can't meet its energy needs from carbs and starts making ketones to use for fuel.

There are five FDA-approved long-term weight loss pills (NIDDK, 2016🇧🇷 None of them have anything to do with keto. However, some research has found that some ingredients in keto pills may support or increase ketosis. They may also help with weight loss or improve your energy levels, although the jury is still out.

The Different Types of Keto Pills and Supplements

Numerous keto pills, powders, and other dietary supplements are offered.

They are all sources of exogenous ketones, meaning they originate outside of the body and are not produced by the body, including ketone salts. Keto salts are usually a mix of electrolytes like potassium and magnesium, minerals like calcium, and keto-friendly compounds like beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB). BHB is one of the ketone bodies that your liver produces and uses for energy when in ketosis (Neumann, 2017).

Most of the work on ketone salts and ketone supplements has examined the effects of BHB salts. However, some products may contain other compounds intended to support ketosis. Two that are produced are 1,3-butanediol and 1,3-butanediol diester acetoacetate (Kesl, 2016).

Different products contain different types and amounts of these BHB ketones and other ketone compounds. When it comes to naming the best keto diet pills, it's hard to find solid evidence.

What Keto Pills Do

The makers of many ketogenic diet pills claim that their supplements can help your body enter or maintain ketosis. And there is evidence that some of these supplements actually work.

Other work, almost exclusively in rats, has looked at dietary supplements containing some of the other ketone bodies. This work also found that swallowing these supplements promotes ketosis (Kesl, 2016).

But do keto pills work?

That depends on how you define "work."

The aforementioned 2021 study found that taking a BHB supplement for six weeks improved ketosis in a small group of people who were already following a ketogenic diet. However, this increase did not result in measurable health improvements, such as weight loss, compared to people who followed a ketogenic diet but did not take a BHB supplement (Buga, 2021).

Meanwhile, the 2017 study found that taking a BHB supplement lowered the levels of triglycerides and unhealthy fatty acids in a person's blood. While encouraging, the study only looked at the effects of one BHB drink over the course of a single day. Whether taking a keto supplement for weeks or months would have health effects, good or bad, has not been studied (Stubbs, 2017).

When it comes to weight loss, there is some promising animal research suggesting that these compounds may help burn body fat. Both rats and mice fed ketogenic supplements lost weight (Poff, 2019; Kesl, 2016).

Bottom Line: So far, there is no evidence that people taking keto pills or supplements alone will lose weight, or that adding them to the keto diet will result in additional weight loss or keto burn.

Are Keto Pills Safe?

Many dietary supplements come with risks or side effects. Some of these problems are immediate. But sometimes they may not appear for months or years (the one, 2019🇧🇷 The good news is that research on keto supplements has not revealed any serious health risks or side effects. However, ketone salts usually consist of ketones attached to sodium; Therefore, people with hypertension who need to control their salt intake should consult a doctor before taking ketogenic supplements (Buga, 2021; Newman, 2017).

But it's important to understand that dietary supplements, including keto pills, are not well regulated. There are tons of products on the market that authorities can trace. And even when regulators pay close attention, they are often looking for immediate risks or side effects, not long-term health problems.(Estrella, 2015).

Almost all supplements can have unexpected risks. Be sure to talk to your doctor before taking anything you're not sure about.

So what is the ketogenic diet?

Your body normally uses glucose for energy. You get most of your glucose from carbohydrates in your diet. Stop eating carbohydrates and your body will have to look for other sources of metabolic energy (Masoud, 2020).

Ketones (also known as ketone bodies) are your body's main alternative source of energy. It produces ketone bodies in part by breaking down its own stores of fats and fatty acids. Both fatty foods and protein-rich foods can help your body produce ketone bodies (Masood, 2020).

When your system switches to ketone bodies as its primary energy source, it's known as "ketosis" or the "ketogenic state." The goal of the ketogenic diet is to bring about that change. You can do this by limiting your daily carbohydrate intake to just 5-10% of your total calories. Fatty foods should make up the majority of your calories, or 55-60% of your diet, with protein making up the rest (Masood, 2020).

What are the benefits of a Keto diet?

Some research has found that ketogenic diets can help people lose weight.

For a 2019 study in the journalnutrition research, 35 obese adults switched to a ketogenic diet. After three months, the men in the study lost an average of 40 pounds. Meanwhile, the women in the study lost 24 pounds (Mahorko, 2019).

More research, some specifically on ketogenic diets and some on very low-carb plans (which are basically keto), has also yielded good results (Ludwig, 2021). These studies are exciting but not conclusive (Trimboli, 2020🇧🇷 Beyond weight loss, there is also some work showing that ketogenic diets can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease (Masood, 2020) and protect against Alzheimer's and other brain diseases (Ludwig, 2021) .

Is the Keto diet safe?

There will always be some risk associated with diets that exclude or restrict entire food groups. And that includes keto. If you're not careful, eating keto can lead to nutrient deficiencies. But previous research suggests that ketogenic diets are safe (Ludwig, 2021).

One of the current concerns about ketogenic diets is that they eliminate whole foods. These are linked to many health benefits, such as reduced risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. But again, the evidence is mixed. It is not clear if people who avoid carbohydrates, even seemingly healthy carbohydrates like whole grains, are worse off (Ludwig, 2021).

It's not clear if adding keto pills to your health plan is worth it. For now, the research is encouraging but not conclusive.