Arrae is a wellness brand that sells supplements for women’s health. The company describes its MB-1 capsule as designed to "support 360 metabolic health," and claims it can help users "burn body fat, reduce cravings and have more energy."
But does Arrae MB-1 contain ingredients shown in research studies to cause weight loss? Are the active ingredients effectively dosed? Will it cause side effects? And is Arrae MB-1 better or worse than popular weight loss supplements like Leanbean?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Arrae MB-1 to give our take on whether or not it’s likely to be effective for weight loss and reducing cravings.
We’ll also discuss the risk of side effects, share our concerns with some of the clinical claims on the brand’s website, and compare Arrae MB-1 to other popular weight loss supplements like Leanbean to pick our winners (and losers).
Key takeaways:
- Contains some research-backed active ingredients
- Active ingredient doses are obscured by a proprietary blend
- We do not currently recommend Arrae MB-1
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Arrae MB-1 are shown below:
image source: https://arrae.com/
Vitamin B6 is included in the bioavailable pyridoxal 5’-phosphate (P5P) form, but we can't find evidence this ingredient supports weight loss.
Chromium is included at a 500 microgram (mcg) dose.
A meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Obesity reviewed 10 trials and found chromium picolinate caused weight loss.
The majority of active ingredients are included in a proprietary blend, which publishes the total ingredient dose but not the individual ingredient doses.
We generally recommend avoiding supplements with proprietary blends, unless the supplement has been clinically tested, because it's important for consumer safety to know the individual doses of each active ingredient.
African mango seed extract was clinically shown to reduce body weight, body fat, and waist circumference in a clinical trial published in the Lipids in Health and Disease journal.
Cissus leaf extract is clinically shown to reduce body fat.
Green tea extract is clinically shown to harm the liver in some individuals, particularly when used at high doses, as we documented in our Welleco review article.
Bifidobacterium lactis B420 is included at a 10 billion CFU dose, and this probiotic strain was clinically shown to reduce body fat mass in overweight adults in a study published in the EBioMedicine journal.
This is the only active ingredient in MB-1 with a disclosed dose that we consider to be effectively dosed for weight loss.
The inactive ingredients in this supplement should be safe and non-toxic.
Overall, we consider Arrae MB-1 likely to support weight loss, but we don’t currently recommend this supplement due to the proprietary blend obscuring four of the seven active ingredient doses.
Questionable Health Claims on Brand Website
There are two health claims on the Arrae website which we disagree with from a scientific perspective.
The website makes bold claims about clinical results, without any associated clinical citations:
image source: https://arrae.com/
We don't understand where this data is sourced from, and this graphic is extremely confusing to us. The asterisk just leads to an FDA disclaimer; not to any clinical citations supporting these claims.
The brand’s website also states that MB-1 is "Backed by 15 clinical trials across its 7 super powerful ingredients," as shown below:
image source: https://arrae.com/
We consider this claim to be potentially misleading, because we're unable to identify any clinical trials on Arrae MB-1.
Individual ingredients having clinical backing is not the same as a supplement with a proprietary blend having clinical backing, which is what the statements above suggest.
We recommend that consumers disregard efficacy data which is not based on clinical trials of the actual product being marketed.
Does Arrae MB-1 Cause Side Effects?
Arrae MB-1 doesn’t appear to have been studied in any clinical trials, which makes it challenging to determine whether or not it causes side effects.
However, we can make an educated guess based on the brand’s stated ingredients.
Most of the active ingredients are well-studied and should not cause side effects.
Green tea extract is clinically shown to harm the liver in some individuals at high doses, and the dose in MB-1 is not disclosed, which is a concern we cannot rule out.
The probiotic strain in MB-1 (Bifidobacterium lactis B420) is generally well tolerated, but may cause minor digestive discomfort in individuals not used to taking probiotics.
There are no mentions of side effects on the Arrae website at the time of publishing this article.
Overall, we do not consider Arrae MB-1 likely to cause side effects in healthy adults at the recommended dose, though we cannot rule out hepatotoxicity from green tea extract due to the undisclosed dose.
Arrae MB-1 vs. Popular Weight Loss Supplements
Here’s how Arrae MB-1 compares to other popular weight loss supplements in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:
Leanbean
Leanbean is a weight loss supplement marketed to women, with active ingredients including glucomannan, choline, and green coffee extract.
The brand clearly discloses the respective doses of all of its active ingredients.
Leanbean is the winner from a safety perspective, because it's free of green tea extract and the doses are transparently published.
Winner: Leanbean
Green Tea Fat Burner
Green Tea Fat Burner by Applied Nutrition is a weight loss supplement that contains caffeine, green tea extract, and two proprietary blends totaling only 186 mg of botanical actives.
As we documented in our Green Tea Fat Burner article, this supplement contains titanium dioxide, an inactive ingredient that has been banned for use as a food additive in the EU due to genotoxicity concerns.
Arrae MB-1 is the winner from both a potential efficacy and a health perspective.
Winner: Arrae MB-1
Plenity
Plenity is an FDA-cleared weight management medical device that works mechanically by taking up stomach space to create fullness.
Plenity is the only product in this comparison that has been studied in a clinical trial published in a peer-reviewed journal, where it was shown to be effective for weight loss.
Plenity is the winner from a potential efficacy perspective, because there is published clinical evidence on the actual product.
Winner: Plenity
Our Healthy Body Weight Picks
Ceylon cinnamon was shown to support healthy body weight in a 2022 meta-analysis. The study authors concluded that effects were greater at doses at or over 3 grams daily.
Illuminate Labs Ceylon Cinnamon Extract is our standardized Ceylon cinnamon supplement which is third-party tested to ensure purity and potency.
Dietary fiber was shown in a medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition to help reduce body weight when combined with moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline).
MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top fiber pick because it's certified organic, provides 7 g of fiber per serving and costs under $1.85 per serving at the time of updating this article.
Both of the products mentioned in this section are free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Arrae MB-1 Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Vitamin B6 in bioavailable P5P form
- Effective probiotic dose
- Includes research-backed active ingredients
- Clean inactive ingredient profile
Cons:
- Proprietary blend
- Questionable health claims on brand website
- Contains green tea extract at unspecified dose
- Doesn't appear to be clinically tested
- Less healthy than some competitors
- We can't identify any third-party testing data
