Glucofort Review: Can a Supplement Lower Blood Sugar?

Glucofort Review: Can a Supplement Lower Blood Sugar?


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Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice, and is just the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that patients follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to blood sugar management.

Glucofort is a dietary supplement used to support healthy blood sugar levels. The company claims their supplement can “naturally awaken the feedback loop responsible for blood sugar and healing and regenerative potential that’s lying dormant within you.”

But does Glucofort contain ingredients shown in research studies to support healthy blood sugar levels, or is this just a marketing claim? Does the supplement contain any questionable additive ingredients? Will Glucofort cause side effects? And which retailer sells Glucofort for the best price?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Glucofort based on clinical studies to give our take on whether or not this supplement is likely to support healthy blood sugar levels, and whether or not it's healthy.

We'll share our concerns about the Glucofort website and Supplement Facts label, discuss the potential for side effects, and provide a cost comparison to show which retailer sells Glucofort for the best price.

We'll also share some concerning Glucofort customer complaints.

Ingredient Analysis

Glucofort vitamin and mineral ingredients

The vitamins and minerals in Glucofort are shown above.

At the time of updating this article, the Glucofort website has no ingredient list or Supplement Facts label, which is a consumer safety issue.

The ingredients analyzed in this section are sourced from the Glucofort Amazon listing published by IDEAL PERFORMANCE, and we cannot guarantee these are the same ingredients included in the supplement sold on Glucofort's website.

We recommend that consumers avoid all supplements sold by brands that fail to publish ingredient lists, as it's a sign of an extremely low-quality brand.

Vitamin C is clinically shown to support healthy blood sugar levels, but may be underdosed in Glucofort.

A 2017 medical review found that vitamin C can lower blood sugar levels in individuals with high blood sugar, but the lowest dose used in any of the trials examined was 200 milligrams (mg), or four times the amount in this supplement.

Vitamin E is ineffective for lowering blood sugar in type 2 diabetics according to a 2005 clinical trial.

Magnesium is clinically shown to reduce fasting blood sugar levels in individuals with elevated fasting blood sugar levels.

However, as we documented in our Klinio reviews article on a diabetes app, the meta-study we found showing magnesium to be effective included trials all containing magnesium doses higher than that in Glucofort.

There are no ingredients in this vitamin and mineral blend that we consider effectively dosed for blood sugar support.

The ingredients in Glucofort's proprietary (prop) herbal blend are shown below:

Glucofort herbal ingredients

Glucofort contains a blend of herbal ingredients which is listed in a manner we’ve never yet seen before on a Supplement Facts label. The company doesn't list the total dosage of the blend, or of any of the individual ingredients.

This appears to be in clear violation of the FDA’s labeling guidelines for dietary supplements, which state that the weight (dosage) of the blend is required to be on the Supplement Facts label.

We very strongly recommend that consumers avoid any supplement that fails to publish dosage for active ingredients. This is a consumer safety issue, because without knowing dosage information, there's no way to estimate ingredient safety.

The same ingredient may be safe at one dose and unsafe at another dose.

Whether or not these ingredients are effective for blood sugar also cannot be ascertained without dosage, but it's irrelevant because consumers should immediately avoid any supplement without ingredient doses listed.

Does Glucofort Cause Side Effects?

Glucofort doesn't appear to have been studied in any clinical trials, which makes it more challenging to determine whether or not the supplement is likely to cause side effects.

However, we can make an educated guess based on its ingredients.

The missing herbal ingredient dose information makes this supplement significantly more of a side effect risk than the average blood sugar support supplement in our opinion, because as described in the previous section, dosage information is required to determine safety.

The relatively high vitamin and mineral doses may increase the risk of side effects as well. Glucofort provides over 200% of the Daily Value (DV) of chromium per serving, and 100% DV of vitamin E, which is a fat-soluble vitamin.

Another supplement brand had to recall some of their batches from the market due to vitamin overfortification causing toxicity in some customers, as we documented in our Keto Chow review article.

Alpha lipoic acid can cause side effects such as skin disorders, gastrointestinal disorders and even insulin autoimmune syndrome, according to a 2021 observational study.

Glucofort Complaints

Glucofort has been reviewed four times on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website at the time of updating this article, and all four reviews are complaints.

The company's average review rating is only 1.25 stars out of 5 stars.

Several of the complaints have to do with missing refunds, but one complaint from a user named "Josh A" actually claims that the supplement increased A1C levels, which is a marker for blood sugar:

"In my case, my A1C actually increased while using this product. My diet remained constant. I stopped the Glucoufort and my A1C went down!"

There are also complaints about Glucofort on Amazon.

An Amazon user and verified customer named "EMPro" complains about the price and product quality:

"As I've started reading more about these pills, the ingredients are not proprietary and widely available through much cheaper, easy to find, over-the-counter options."

Our Blood Sugar Support Picks

Performance Lab Magnesium is our top magnesium pick.

Magnesium is a mineral that is clinically shown to improve insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes, and is clinically shown to reduce fasting blood sugar levels.

Control Glucose by Mend is our top premium blood sugar support supplement.

This supplement contains chromium, which is clinically shown to reduce the risk of insulin resistance, and Salacia chinensis extract which reduced post-meal blood sugar levels by 34% in a 2016 clinical trial.

Because this supplement provides a relatively high level of chromium, consumers may wish to speak with a doctor before using it for extended periods of time.

Cinnamon was shown in a medical review published in the Annals of Family Medicine journal to reduce fasting blood sugar levels, reduced total cholesterol levels and reduced triglyceride levels.

Illuminate Labs Ceylon Cinnamon Extract is our Ceylon cinnamon supplement that only costs $15 on a subscription basis.

All of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy or unsafe.

Where to Get the Best Price

Glucofort is sold at a variety of online retailers. Here's a price breakdown for a one-time purchase at the time of updating this article:

Brand website: $69 (plus shipping, link)

Amazon: $39.95 (free shipping, link)

Walmart: $37.95 (free shipping, link)

The Walmart version of Glucofort is currently around 50% cheaper than the brand's website, but has a different formulation to the Amazon version.

We recommend avoiding supplements when it's unclear who the official manufacturer is. It's a sign of a low-quality brand to fail to secure a trademark.

Pros and Cons of Glucofort

Here are the pros and cons of Glucofort in our opinion:

Pros:

  • Contains some research-backed active ingredients

Cons:

  • Unclear official manufacturer
  • No ingredients list on brand's website
  • Different ingredients on Amazon and Walmart
  • Failure to publish herbal ingredient dosage in Amazon version
  • No effectively dosed active ingredients in our opinion based on existing research
  • Not clinically tested
  • Contains high added vitamin and mineral doses
  • Contains alpha lipoic acid
  • Low-quality brand
  • Company fails to respond to customer complaints on BBB
Stay up-to-date on our research reviews

Conclusion

Glucofort is the worst blood sugar supplement we've reviewed to date on Illuminate Health, and is one of the most unimpressive supplement brands we've reviewed overall.

This supplement doesn't appear to be clinically tested, and we're unable to identify any active ingredients in the Amazon version of the formulation that we consider to be effectively dosed for blood sugar supplement.

It's unclear who the official manufacturer of this supplement is, because what appears to be the brand's website fails to publish an ingredient list, and the Amazon and Walmart versions of this supplement contain different ingredient lists.

We strongly recommend that consumers avoid supplements without a clearly published ingredient list containing ingredient dosages.

The Amazon listing has a proprietary blend without total dose information, which violates FDA guidelines and which is a consumer safety issue.

In light of this unacceptable failure to publish critical safety information, we recommend that consumers avoid all supplements sold by IDEAL PERFORMANCE, which is listed as the brand behind the Amazon listing for Glucofort.

We consider Glucofort more likely to cause side effects than the average supplement we've reviewed, because of these ingredient dose and manufacturer issues.