Is Organic ketchup Keto?

The Ingredient Breakdown

As a food scientist, I always look past the marketing buzzwords on the label. The ingredient list for this organic ketchup reveals a familiar story: Organic tomato concentrate provides the base and the lycopene, but the second ingredient is the dealbreaker. That ingredient is organic sugar.

In the world of keto, the source of the sugar matters less than the chemical structure. Whether it is organic cane sugar or highly processed white sugar, your body metabolizes it almost identically. It spikes blood glucose and insulin levels, which is the exact opposite of what you want on a low-carb diet. The presence of organic distilled vinegar and salt is standard for flavor and preservation, but they cannot offset the carbohydrate load of the sugar. Even though the sugar is organic, it still counts fully toward your daily net carb limit.

Nutritional Value

Standard organic ketchup typically contains about 4 to 5 grams of carbohydrates per tablespoon, with almost all of that coming from sugar. On a standard ketogenic diet, the daily limit is usually 20 to 50 grams of net carbs. This means that just two tablespoons of this ketchup could use up 20% of your entire daily allowance. While the calorie count is low and there is virtually no fat, the macronutrient ratio is wrong for keto. Keto relies on high fat and very low carb; a condiment that is high carb and zero fat simply does not fit the nutritional profile required to keep the body in a state of ketosis.