These Keto supplements consist of vitamins and minerals that help support a healthy ketogenic diet.
We all know the best way to handle a proper keto diet is through a variety of whole foods around your own personal macronutrient targets. But even then, you might be prone to losing more of certain vitamins on a ketogenic diet. Keto supplements help you get the recommended daily value amounts of these important nutrients when it’s hard with the diet.
Why keto supplements are necessary for many
The ketogenic diet can make you lose minerals, b vitamins, and electrolytes at a higher rate than usual because eating fewer carbs makes your glycogen stores deplete. You start to excrete a lot more electrolytes and minerals than you’re used to when you go into ketosis. And if your chosen “keto foods” are limited in variety, you may be depriving yourself of important vitamins and minerals needed to be consumed from the diet.
Ketogenic diets need real food
Because the focus on ketogenic diets is on macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat), not micronutrients (or the purity of sources of micronutrients), as long as you reach your proper fat, carbohydrate and protein target ratios, you can technically do a “McDonald’s keto diet” and it would be considered “keto.” That’s just a silly example of how accessing ketosis doesn’t rely on the intake of good vitamins and minerals in your diet.
That’s why they have such things as food pyramids and plates in place (as much as the official one is off). Here is a food pyramid for the ketogenic diet:
Image source: Perfect Keto
To avoid nutrient deficiency, it’s as easy as eating some fresh foods because most of these vitamins are in many common foods eaten on low carb diets. This keto food pyramid helps you see what foods should be used to fill your day’s calories, macronutrient targets, and micronutrients.
If you get plenty of good water and sunshine, consume a variety of fibrous vegetables and good foods every day, and if you get your omegas from healthy fish, all while hitting your keto macros, then you’re an exemplary keto dieter and you probably don’t need keto supplements. It helps to bookmark a bunch of good low carb and keto recipes (we have some!).
Keto & Micronutrients: Why keto supplements are necessary
Micronutrients are not needed in large amounts.
The following infographic from a Dr. Jockers blog post on micronutrients shares quite a few reasons why we should not forget about micronutrients:
Image source: Dr. Jockers
Can’t food be enough?
Yes, food can be enough to cover a well-rounded keto diet. It’s the ideal way, but it’s hard to do everything right with only food and no keto supplements. One example that comes to mind is if you’re a shift worker with a really tough work schedule that takes away your time for timely healthy cooking or for sunshine rays in the prime hours of the morning.
While real food is the preferable way to get important vitamins (our keto food list post lists out many keto friendly foods), the convenience of health supplements is nice. During times of need, keto supplements provide your body nutrients when you can’t get the right food or are just busy.
9 Best Keto Supplements
Here is the list of all 9 keto supplements, followed by further details on each below:
B-Vitamins:
1. Nutritional Yeast
2. Spirulina
3. B complex whole food vitamin
Minerals:
4. Magnesium
5. Electrolytes
6. Trace minerals
More:
7. Vitamin D3
8. Prebiotic Fiber
9. Caffeine
B-Vitamins & Keto
When you switch over from sugar burning to fat burning, you need more of certain nutrients. B-vitamins, minerals and electrolytes are a few of these. Because we can’t store much vitamin B in our bodies, it’s important to supplement B vitamins with food or supplements.
These are some of the things they help with (source):
- Vitamin B3 (niacin): circulation, addiction, healthy heart function
- Vitamin B6 (depression, anxiety, essential for supporting neurotransmitters and your mood)
- Vitamin B7 (biotin) helps strengthen your skin, hair, and nails.
- Vitamin B9 (folate) is critical for neurological development and for you methylation and detox pathways.
- Vitamin B12 (your energy vitamin) is the most important vitamin for cellular energy. If you feel tired, vitamin b12 is crucial for boosting up your energy levels
B Vitamins As Keto Supplements
Here is a quote from a Livestrong article where they cite a study done on low carb diets and b vitamins. They conclude recommending a multivitamin supplement if on a low carb diet:
Cutting out foods such as grains and beans may make it hard for you to get all the B-vitamins on a low-carb diet. A 2010 study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition looked at some of the most popular weight-loss diet plans, including a low-carb diet, to determine if they were deficient in any nutrients. This study found that the low-carb diet, which restricted carbs to 20 grams a day, was deficient in only pantothenic acid and biotin and met 100 percent or more of the reference daily intake for the other B vitamins. The authors of this study suggest that if you’re going to follow a low-carb diet, add a multivitamin supplement to ensure you get all the nutrients you need.
B-vitamins help your body convert carbs into glucose, which gives you energy. B vitamins, or B complex vitamins, help your body use fats and protein too. They are a keto supplement because they need to be consumed in the diet. They help increase energy levels, reduce stress, improve cellular function, improve hormones, support thyroid adrenal function, and far more (source).
Ketogenic diets mixed with a lot of physical activity creates a need to consume extra b vitamins through diet or supplementation. Below is more on individual b vitamins followed by more on these 3 ways to supplement them.
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
Vitamin B1 and Keto: Vitamin-B1 is good for fat adaptation and overall stress. It helps with transitioning to a fat burning state (source). If you don’t eat food sources of this vitamin, you may need to consider supplementing. We only store about 2 weeks’ worth of thiamine in our bodies. It’s easy to be deficient in this vitamin. Conveniently, it’s included in most of the best natural sources of vitamin B supplements; nutritional yeast, spirulina and b complex supplements. It’s easy to avoid vitamin b1 deficiency.
Deficiency Symptoms: Thiamine is involved in numerous metabolic processes including breaking down carbohydrates in the diet.
Severe chronic thiamine deficiency (beriberi) can result in potentially serious complications involving the nervous system, brain, muscles, heart, and gastrointestinal system (source).
Thiamine Food Sources:
- Macadamia nuts – rich in vitamin B1, magnesium & manganese
- pork
- sunflower seeds
- trout
- salmon
- mussels
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
Niacin on Keto: Vitamin B3 is a water-soluble vitamin that’s not stored in the body and is easily excreted in urine. It’s an important vitamin to keep an eye on in your ketogenic diet. It’s a good keto supplement because niacin helps lower cholesterol coming out of the fat cells and into your liver (source).
Deficiency Symptoms: From making stress-related hormones to improving circulation, deficiency includes things like a decreased tolerance to cold, slowed metabolism, and more. Severe vitamin B3 niacin deficiency is something you never want to experience; pellagra disease, delirium, dementia, and death. Vitamin b6 & b2 deficiency are factors in niacin deficiency. (source).
On the flip side, excessive amounts of niacin can cause skin rashes, peptic ulcers, and even liver damage.
Food Sources:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Enriched bread and cereals
- Rice
- Fish
- Lean meats
- Legumes
- Peanuts
- Poultry
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid)
Ketogenic Diets & Vitamin B5: The name of Vitamin B5 is Pantothenic Acid. Vitamin B5 is essential in the adaptation to fat burning process. Vitamin B5 is a cofactor for energy metabolism, specifically for enzymes that help you break down fat (source). In the following video, ketogenic diet-focused doctor, Dr. Berg, explains why vitamin b5 is such an important keto supplement to take if you’re not getting it from food.
Deficiency Symptoms: Vitamin B5 deficiency is rare. You won’t have these unless you’re extremely malnourished or if you for some reason are not consuming enough calories, and the calories you do eat, don’t have one of the many vitamin b5 foods. Symptoms of deficiency include irritability, depression, fatigue, insomnia, stomach pains, vomiting, burning feet, upper respiratory infections, muscle cramps among others.
These are easy to avoid though because vitamin b5 is in many foods that are acceptable in keto and Paleo diets. According to WebMD, you only need 5 to 10 mg of pantothenic acid (vitamin b5) per day, so it should be easy to supplement or get sufficient amounts in your diet. These are the foods you find vitamin b5 in.
Food Sources: Avocado and sunflower seeds are at the top along with eggs and beef liver as the most b5 packed foods.
- Avocado
- Eggs
- Beef Liver
- Sunflower seeds
- Duck
- Salmon
- Whole milk yogurt
- Broccoli
Vitamin B7 (Biotin or Vitamin H)
Biotin & Keto: Biotin is known as the “hair & skin” vitamin. It does far more than that though. Like other B vitamins, Biotin helps our bodies break down carbs, fat and proteins for energy. For full absorption and benefits, it needs to be ingested. Biotin can possess various health benefits. It may be beneficial for type 2 diabetes and for energy metabolism. Biotin may help lower the risk of heart disease, prevent cognitive decline, promote brain function, support a healthy immune system, and far more even (source).
Deficiency Symptoms (source):
- brittle hair and nails
- hair loss
- dry, flaky skin
- tingling in the limbs
- cognitive impairments
- nerve damage
- moodiness
- muscle aches and pains
- digestive and intestinal tract issues
- lack of energy or chronic fatigue
Biotin deficiency is rare because it’s in so many foods. However, there is one study performed on mice that did show ketogenic diets able to cause biotin deficiency. It was not a human experiment, but the researchers concluded that people on ketogenic diets should increase their biotin intake based on the results. Their study revealed that with mice, ketogenic diets increased the rate of biotin deficiency… and their undesirable side effects (source).
Biotin Food Sources:
- Organ meats
- Eggs
- Avocado
- Cauliflower
- Berries
- Fish
- Legumes
- Mushrooms
Vitamin B9: Methylfolate
Keto & Vitamin B9 (folate, folic acid): Vitamin B9’s most common supplemental form is folic acid. But if you’re looking to use this as a keto supplement, methylfolate or folate are the best choices among the three vitamin b9 supplement forms. Vitamin B9 (folate) helps with healthy red blood cell production and anemia prevention. It also “helps our bodies synthesize, repair and methylate DNA”(source). It’s important for cell division and growth.
Deficiency Symptoms: Not enough vitamin B9 can make you anemic. Anemia is a condition that happens when you don’t have enough red blood cells to carry oxygen to your body’s tissues. Vitamin B9 deficiency induced anemia can bring out a number of symptoms (source):
- Fatigue
- Lack of energy
- Feeling short of breath
- Headaches
- Pale skin
- Racing heart
- Weight loss or not feeling hungry
- Ringing in your ears
- Reduced sense of taste
- Diarrhea
- Pins and needles feeling or numbness in your hands and feet
- Muscle weakness
- Depression
Deficiency symptoms include red blood cells larger than normal, tongue inflammation, depression, and more. In 1998 the US and Canada instituted a folic acid fortification program due to so many in North America being deficient (source).
Natural sources of vitamin b9 are easy to come by. Citric fruits and dark leafy greens are great sources of folate. Here is a list of vitamin b9 foods.
B9 Food Sources:
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Asparagus
- Beef Liver
- Oranges
- Avocados
- Mustard greens
- Many more plant foods
Folic Acid vs Folate vs Methylfolate
These are the three forms of vitamin B9 available to you. Your best bet is going with the biologically active form of vitamin B9 called, methyl folate. Here is why:
- L-Methylfolate (5-MTHF): There is a percentage of people that can’t handle folate or folic acid properly due to having a genetic MTHR mutation. For these people, L-Methylfolate is an equally effective, bioactive alternative form of b9 supplementation.
“L-methylfolate is the biologically active form of vitamin B9. It is the form the human body can use in circulation” (source).
According to this Diets Vs Disease article:
Studies show that L-Methyfolate supplementation is equally (if not more) effective than folic acid for increasing circulating folate in those with an MTHFR mutation. It is also highly effective at reducing homocysteine levels in healthy people. It is also better absorbed and interacts with fewer medications than folic acid.
- Folic Acid (synthetic): This is the synthetic form of vitamin B9. In North America as well as in Australia, there are laws in place to fortify wheat flour with folic acid due to widespread deficiency and the detrimental effects people suffered from them. Because grains are highly consumed in these countries, it was the chosen food to fortify with folic acid (source).
The problem with folic acid: It’s a synthetically oxidized molecule. Your body has to convert it into methylfolate in order to put it to use, and it’s the least bioactive form of vitamin B9.
- Folate (natural form): Naturally, vitamin B9 occurs as folate. Folate’s active form is 5-MTHF.
“Vitamin B12 is required for proper red blood cell formation, neurological function, and DNA synthesis.” (source) Vitamin B12 and Keto: Vitamin B12 (Cobalamine) plays a vital role in normal brain and nervous system functioning, and much more. It’s said to be involved in the metabolism of every cell of the human body. B12 deficiency is something vegans and vegetarians easily suffer from if they’re not eating fortified foods. Celiac disease and Chron’s disease can also contribute to deficiency. Everyone should make sure they’re getting enough B12. Plant sources of it don’t absorb well. Deficiency is caused by your body not being able to absorb it (possibly from antinutrient effects of a medication), or by simply not getting enough of it. The signs include anemia, loss of balance, numb and tingling arms, and legs, weakness, dementia and more (source). Symptoms of deficiency: Foods eaten on a ketogenic diet are mostly all high in vitamin B12. For this reason, B12 deficiency from inadequate dietary intake should not be a problem. Perhaps a malabsorption thing could still cause a deficiency, but for the average healthy person on a keto diet, the foods within keto food lists generally have good amounts of vitamin b12. Deficiency is easily treated, but without detection and action, prolonged deficiency can lead to severe problems like blood disease and neurologic problems (source). B12 Food Sources: The best food sources of vitamin B12 include eggs, milk, cheese, dairy products, meats, seafood Vitamin B12 is most often in the form of cyanocobalamin in nutritional supplements. It’s the cheapest one to source, so it makes business sense. Both ultimately work, but methylcobalamin is now considered the better form of vitamin b12 due to its deliverability. Cyanocobalamin requires the liver to convert it into a form the body can use. Methylcobalamin is ready to go, no conversion process necessary before body puts it to use. Either the whole food based, or if it’s isolated and added, as the methylcobalamin form, are the superior forms of vitamin b12 to look for when shopping around. When it comes to fulfilling your B vitamin requirements through nutrition, this graph from Ketogenic Diet Resource is telling of what types of foods work best to satisfy your daily requirements. The good fibers will come from plant-based sources, but in comparison, milligram per milligram, animal-based foods hold more of the vitamins and minerals you need on a ketogenic diet than plant-based food sources (fortified milk and cereals not in this list): Image source: Ketogenic Diet Resource If you’re not getting them in your diet, nutritional yeast, spirulina, or a whole food B-complex vitamin are three good keto supplement options. Sari Foods 100% Natural Non-Fortified Nutritional Yeast Powder is a secret underground health nut favorite because of how great it tastes and how good it is for you. There are the whole food-based, naturally occurring vitamins and minerals in nutritional yeast. It is not fortified with synthetic vitamin B12 like many other nutritional yeasts. That’s why this is a great b vitamin product. It has the full range of B vitamins and is a great keto supplement to add to your cabinet (this blog post has a lot of good nutritional yeast recipes.). Nutrex Hawaiin Spirulina: This Hawaiian Spirulina is a good natural source of vitamin B12. It would be nicely paired with a nutritional yeast to cover all your b vitamin needs. Why Nutrex Hawaiian Spirulina? This Spirulina company, Nutrex, have been a personal favorite for the last 5 years, and for many others a lot longer than that. They have been around since 1984 and have thousands of very positive reviews. Their Hawaiian spirulina is grown in Kona, Hawaii, where it’s said to be the most nutrient dense. All spirulina is good. Hawaiian is one of the best. It’s said to be the most nutrient-dense of all the spirulinas. Let me share a screenshot from this article that speaks of the Hawaiian spirulina variety: Image source: draxe.com/spirulina-benefits All types of organic spirulina are great “superfoods” that replenish your body with naturally occurring b vitamins and minerals. Ruled.me broke down a spirulina study, concluding that “taking spirulina at a moderate dose (4.5 g/day) significantly lowers levels of triglycerides. Additionally, it also lowers total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and blood pressure to a reasonable extent while slightly increasing heart-healthy HDL-cholesterol.” Synergy Super-B Complex is a good formula complex b vitamin that comes from a whole food source. Why Synergy Super-B Complex? Synergy and Megafood are 2 health supplement brands that produce whole food multivitamins made with certified organic whole food ingredients. Synergy’s B complex is a good one. It’s an all-natural, whole food b complex vitamin that has a good amount of nutrients per vegetable tablet. You only have to take one vegetable tablet per day to get all the good, whole food non-synthetic form b vitamins. If your goal is to go as natural as possible, then you may want to avoid synthetic vitamins. B vitamins can come from whole food sources, as opposed to being made in a laboratory. The body doesn’t handle synthetic vitamins the same as it does whole food. A good whole food sourced vitamin b complex formula is what’s closest to real food vitamins. Minerals are the next set of important keto supplements you need to have available to you one way or another on your low carb ketogenic diet. Minerals vs Vitamins: While there are 13 vitamins (A, C, E, D, Bs), these organic plant and aninaml based substances are consumed by us in order to provide their nutrients to our bodies. We get these vitamins from food, although our bodies do produce vitamins D and K. In contrast, minerals are inorganic. They don’t come from once living plants and animals in the same way. Minerals come from the earth and the soils and waters. The animals and plants absorb these minerals and then we get the minerals from plants and animals in that way. Here are some to make sure you get and then a few quality products to add to your keto supplement cabinet. Major Minerals: Trace Minerals: Electrolytes: Magnesium & Keto: Magnesium is probably the most important keto supplement of them all. It’s an essential nutrient that is involved in many of the body’s functions and processes. It’s something you don’t want to be deficient in. Unfortunately, Americans are said to be low and those on low carbohydrate diets are even lower in regards to meeting the USDA recommended dietary intake of magnesium. The deficiency symptoms are not always apparent. For that reason, it’s important to supplement magnesium or to eat more magnesium-rich foods. Magnesium Food Sources: Dark vegetables, Cacao (Dark chocolate), Avocado, Mackerel, Almonds, Swiss chard, Cashew nuts, Brazil nuts, Pine nuts, Spinach Potassium & Keto: When you lose sodium on a ketogenic diet, you lose potassium as well. Your kidneys excrete it to keep up with the sodium loss. Sodium and potassium go hand in hand. When you lose sodium and potassium, you start to feel it. From muscle cramps to constipation, weakness, and in severe cases, much more serious complications, potassium deficiency is easily avoided because it is in many food sources. Most fresh fruits and vegetables contain potassium. When it comes to keto foods, you still have a vast array of low carb and keto friendly foods that contain plenty of potassium. This mineral is in mineral and multivitamin supplements as well. Potassium Food Sources: Avocado, Sweet potato, Tomato sauce, Beets, Canned salmon, Edamame, Yogurt, Swiss Chard, Bananas, Spinach, Mushrooms, Kale Sodium & Keto: Have you ever heard of someone fainting outside because of the hot sun? Sodium deficiency is a cause of this. Salt deficiency or sodium deficiency on a ketogenic diet is easy to happen because of the excess loss of fluids. It’s one of the main keto supplements and can be easily satisfied with table salt, sea salt, Himalayan salt or a nice bone broth style recipe. Luckily salt and keto foods go and hand in hand. We have a bone broth recipe! Food Sources: Sea Salt, Table salt Electrolytes are minerals and salts in your body that become electrically charged “ions.” It’s important to keep and maintain the right balance of electrolytes because they have so many uses in our body. A Medical News Today article explains how our muscles and neurons are referred to as “electric tissues” and how “they rely on electrolytes moving through the fluid inside, outside, and between cells.” They need sodium, potassium, and calcium in order to contract. Our heart and nerve cells also rely on these electrolytes “to carry electrical impulses between cells.” Quick & Dirty Tips explains electrolytes like this: In the world of nutrition, we use the word “electrolyte” more specifically to refer to minerals dissolved in the body’s fluids, creating electrically charged ions. The electrolytes that are the most important in nutrition are sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphate. Electrolytes according to Wikipedia: An electrolyte is a substance that produces an electrically conducting solution when dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water. A substance that dissociates into ions in solution acquires the capacity to conduct electricity. You might have noticed that your ketogenic diet has caused an increase in urination frequency, especially at the beginning and when you first became keto-adapted. This is how the keto diet can cause an imbalance of electrolytes. According to Keto Diet Resource: Your body is burning up the extra glycogen (stored glucose) in your liver and muscles. Breaking down glycogen releases a lot of water. As your carb intake and glycogen stores drop, your kidneys will start dumping this excess water. In addition, as your circulating insulin levels drop, your kidneys start excreting excess sodium, which will also cause more frequent urination. (source) Signs of Electrolyte Deficiency: When our electrolytes are imbalanced, we can suffer from vicious muscle cramps and weakness. One of the main keto supplements necessary to have in the most likely case of deficiency are the electrolytes. Sources Of Food With Electrolytes: Coconut water is probably the very best resource of natural electrolytes. One cup of coconut water contains 252mg sodium, 600mg potassium, 60mg magnesium, 58mg calcium, and 48mg phosphorus (source). Quoting Dr. Mercola on one of his blog posts about coconut water, Coconut water is the richest dietary source of cytokinins, plant hormones that have anti-cancer, anti-aging, and anti-thrombolytic benefits in humans. Coconut water is sweet, low in sugar, and has anti-inflammatory properties that help to protect the urinary tract and your heart. Coconut water works as a digestive tonic and can improve eye health and your skin health. It supports a good immune system function and is beneficial in blood glucose and insulin levels management. Coconut water provides natural electrolytes and trace minerals, amino acids, vitamins, phytonutrients, antioxidants and enzymes (wow!). But they’re not always easy to get or you may prefer other options. Here are a few electrolyte-rich foods with their nuVitamin B12 (with methylcobalamin)
Whole Food, Methylcobalamin, Cyanocobalamin B12
B-Vitamins: Plant-Based vs Animal-Based
3 B-Vitamin Keto Supplements
1. Nutritional Yeast: Sari Foods Non-Fortified
2. Hawaiian Spirulina
3. Whole Food B Vitamin: Pure Synergy
RECAP: Top-3 Vitamin-B Keto Supplements
Mineral Keto Supplements
How To Replenish minerals with nutrition:
Magnesium (glycinate)
Potassium
Sodium
Electrolytes
Electrolytes and the Ketogenic Diet:
