HUM Nutrition is one of the more popular nutritional supplement brands. The brand claims that their supplements are “Clean + Clinically Tested” and “free of 12 widely used ingredients that shouldn’t be in a vitamin.”
But do HUM Nutrition supplements contain ingredients proven in clinical trials to be effective? Do they contain any questionable additive ingredients? What retailer sells HUM Nutrition for the best price? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of HUM Nutrition supplements?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze the ingredients in two of HUM Nutrition’s most popular supplements. We will review relevant medical studies to give our take on whether the supplements are likely to be effective or if they’re a waste of money. The supplements we’ll analyze are HUM Nutrition Flatter Me and HUM Nutrition Skinny Bird.
We’ll also provide a cost breakdown featuring which retailer sells HUM Nutrition for the best price, and highlight real, unsponsored user reviews.
Flatter Me Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in HUM Nutrition Flatter Me, which is a supplement used to promote healthy digestion and a lean stomach, are shown above.
The majority of active ingredients in this supplement are digestive enzymes such as protease and amylase.
Digestive enzyme supplementation may be an effective treatment for gastrointestinal diseases, according to a 2016 medical review. However, we haven’t come across any clinical evidence that supplementing with digestive enzymes improves digestion in otherwise healthy individuals, nor that it supports a flat stomach.
The remaining active ingredients are part of an herbal blend containing ginger powder, fennel powder and peppermint powder.
While all three of these ingredients have clinical backing for digestive support (ginger is clinically shown to reduce gastrointestinal symptoms), all three ingredients may be underdosed.
The total dose of this herbal blend is 45 milligrams (mg), which equates to an average of only 15 mg per ingredient. We haven’t come across any clinical evidence that any of these herbs is effective at such a low dose.
To provide an example of why we consider these ingredients potentially underdosed, consider the ginger meta-study cited above. Ginger was proven effective for reducing digestive distress, but the lowest dose used in any of the trials was 500 mg, or 33x the amount in Flatter Me.
Based on its active ingredients, we do not believe that this supplement is likely to improve gastrointestinal distress or lean the stomach in otherwise healthy adults. The good news is that the inactive ingredients are safe and non-toxic, so there are no questionable ingredients in the formulation.
MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top gut health supplement 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.
MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ contains 100% soluble fiber, which was described as "one of the most important nutrients for the gut microbiota" in a clinical review published in the Molecules journal.
Next we’ll analyze the ingredients in HUM Nutrition Skinny Bird, but before doing so we’ll feature some real user reviews of the brand.
Real People Try HUM Nutrition
A YouTube creator named Alexis Oliva published a HUM Nutrition review that included before-and-after images and shared her experience using the supplements for skin and bloating:
Another YouTube creator named “ThatsSoYin” shared her experience taking seven different HUM supplements in an unsponsored review:
Skinny Bird Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Hum Nutrition Skinny Bird, which is a weight loss supplement, are shown above.
Chromium is a mineral that has been clinically shown to cause weight loss, but the majority of clinical trials cited in the above-linked meta-study used doses higher than the 200 micrograms in Skinny Bird.
Caralluma fimbriata extract is an appetite suppressant that was shown in a 2021 clinical trial to be ineffective. The researchers analyzed seven clinical trials on the herbal extract and concluded the following: “Appetite parameters showed no significant changes and metabolic parameters did not improve with C.fimbriata supplementation therefore it is unlikely to recommend C. fimbriata as a weight loss supplement and an appetite suppressant.”
Green tea extract is clinically shown to cause weight loss, as we referenced in our review of another weight loss supplement containing this ingredient called ProbioSlim.
However, Health Canada warns consumers that green tea extract may cause liver damage so it may be worthwhile to speak with a doctor prior to using this supplement.
Based on its active ingredients we consider Skinny Bird potentially effective for weight loss, although we cannot identify any ingredients that we consider effectively dosed based on a review of clinical trials.
Like the other HUM Nutrition supplement, this one is free of any questionable additives which is a good thing.
Our weight loss supplement pick is Bulletproof MCT Oil, as it’s a food-based supplement derived from coconuts, and a meta-study on MCT oil supplementation found that less than one tablespoon per day caused 1.12 pounds of weight loss over the course of 10 weeks. This equates to a potential annualized weight loss of 5.84 pounds with less than one tablespoon of daily MCT oil supplementation.
Interested consumers can check out Bulletproof MCT Oil at this link to the product page on the official brand's website. This supplement only costs $15.50 for over a month's worth of product.
Can HUM Improve Hair & Nails?
A dermatologist and popular YouTube creator named “Dr Dray” analyzed the ingredients in HUM’s supplements for hair and nails to give her take on whether or not they’re likely to be effective:
Where to Get the Best Price
HUM Nutrition is sold at a variety of online retailers. Here’s a price breakdown for the two products reviewed in this article at the time of writing:
Flatter Me
Brand website: $26 (plus shipping, link)
Sephora: $26 (free shipping with an account – link)
Amazon: $26 (free shipping depending on plan – link to official Amazon listing)
Skinny Bird
Brand website: $40 (plus shipping, link)
Revolve: $40 (free shipping – link)
Amazon: $40 (free shipping depending on plan – link to official Amazon listing)
HUM Nutrition appears to tightly control the price of their supplements, so the best cost savings consumers can achieve is by ordering their products with free shipping to save 5-10% of the total cost.
Is HUM Clinically Proven to Work?
As stated in the intro of this article, HUM describes their product line as “Clean + Clinically Tested.”
The Science page of the brand’s website highlights two products that appear to have been studied in legitimate clinical trials published in peer-reviewed medical journals.
However, we have concerns with the quality of research.
The skin supplement, called SKIN SQUAD, was studied in a clinical trial that does not appear to be published in any peer-reviewed medical or scientific journals. We advise consumers to be extremely wary of results from company-funded clinical trials that are unpublished, because the risk of bias is high.
HUM Nutrition describes their menopause supplement called FAN CLUB as being clinically studied, however we cannot find any mention of the supplement in the clinical trial cited.
One of the active ingredients in FAN CLUB was shown to work in that clinical trial, but that is nowhere near the same as proving that the supplement itself is effective, so we find this type of marketing untrustworthy.
We do not believe it’s fair to consumers for a company to claim that a supplement is clinically tested if the supplement has not been clinically tested but only one of its ingredients has.
Overall we are highly disappointed by the research backing for HUM Nutrition.
Real Customers Rate HUM Nutrition
Amazon is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand’s website in our opinion.
HUM Nutrition Flatter Me (the first supplement we reviewed in this article) has been reviewed over 6,000 times on Amazon with an average review rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named “MT” who claims the supplement helps with their digestion:
“I had been dealing with an extended IBS flare up and the product contained most of the items I normally take for flare ups, with the benefit of being in 1 capsule vs multiple pills. The evening of the first day I noticed my abdomen didn’t hurt as bad. By the third day I ate a meal and didn’t regret it.”
The top negative review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named “Amy” who claims the product caused side effects:
“I took one on Saturday morning before breakfast and later that day felt off - heart beating fast, a little out of it, stomach felt weird. The next day didn’t take any and was OK until all of a sudden heart started beating fast again and stomach felt off. Was able to go to bathroom and felt fine after that. Monday still didn’t take any and felt OK in morning and then suddenly heart palpitations again and felt sort of dizzy and shaky.”
HUM Nutrition has a Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating of 1.36 out of 5 stars. We are not too concerned about this because consumers commonly go to this site to complain about brands.
However, our main concern is that the brand doesn’t respond to the majority of negative reviews in an attempt to resolve the situations (at least at the time of publishing this article).
HUM Nutrition Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of HUM Nutrition as a brand in our opinion:
Pros:
- Affordable
- Great branding
- No unhealthy additive ingredients
Cons:
- Unimpressive formulations
- Questionable clinical research claims
- Unclear if healthy adults benefit from digestive enzymes
- Brand doesn’t respond to all consumer complaints on BBB
