Article edited for scientific accuracy by Illuminate Labs Blog Editor Taylor Graber MD
Nature’s Formulas is a supplement company with a main product called Curcumin180. Their website makes aggressive health claims which are not backed by science and are inaccurate. They fake customer reviews and conduct themselves in a generally fraudulent manner in our opinion.
In this review we’ll analyze the health claims made by Nature’s Formulas as well as highlight other questionable information on their site.
No Public Team
As a consumer you shouldn’t trust a company that publishes zero information about who actually is behind the company. If a company had qualified medical experts on their team, they’d be eager to share that information as it builds consumer trust. Especially with consumable products, you want to ensure that the people manufacturing them are legitimate for your own safety.
Fake Testimonials
Nature’s Formulas has a Testimonals page with fake headshots plagiarized from across the web. Their fake testimonial from user “Steve Alldis”, for example, comes from a German website linked here. This is incredibly unethical and probably illegal. If a company is this manipulative you should stay far away.
No Social Media
The Twitter link in the footer of Nature’s Formula’s site links not to a company Twitter page, but to the page of a man named Demetrice Etheridge. At this point we’re not even sure what’s going on.
Perhaps this is the founder, but the link in Demetrice’s bio doesn’t go to the Nature’s Formulas page but to a different broken page called “Proven Health Science” which returns a 404 error.
The Instagram link in their footer leads to an account with one follower and no posts, titled “Proven Health.”
False Health Claims
Nature’s Formulas claims in their marketing that their “Curcumin180” product is “180x more effective”. That is false, inaccurate and of course not cited. They claim that adding bioperine increases absorption up to 180x.
While bioperine or black pepper extract does increase curcumin bioavailabilty significantly based on medical research, it doesn’t increase it nearly 180x. That’s an absurd false claim with not even a basis in fact.
Absorption also doesn’t directly translate to effectiveness, which is something Nature’s Formulas somehow doesn’t understand. Stating that their product is 180x more effective (they don’t even say compared to what), is misleading and false. This product is not 180x more effective than standard turmeric extract with black pepper or bioperine. Infact there’s no proof it’s more effective at all.
Likely False Testing Claims
Nature’s Formula’s site claims they test their products for quality and purity at an independent third-party facility. Since they don’t publish any of these tests, or even report on them, we find that to be unlikely. If you spent all of the money for independent testing, why wouldn’t you share those test results with consumers?
Most supplement companies don’t do any independent testing because it’s expensive. If they did, they’d be eager to share it because it’s a competitive advantage. We know, because we publish third-party testing of every batch of every product we sell, because we actually care about consumer safety. Check out our panax ginseng root extract page as an example, and you’ll see the test results right in the product images.
Misleading Research Section
Under the “Scientific Proof” header, Nature’s Formulas claims that they “work with” leading research centers to create their formulations. There is no proof that this is the case, and what’s more likely is that they look at the publications from these centers and model their formulations off of the research.
There’s nothing wrong with this approach, and we do the same, but we don’t claim we’re partnered with Harvard if we cite a Harvard research paper on one of our product page formulations. It’s a misleading way to describe the relationship when there likely isn’t one.
Conclusion
This is the worst supplement company we’ve reviewed to date. Not only are they making totally false and misleading health claims, but they’re engaged in active deception with fake testimonials. Nature’s Formulas is even worse than the gf9 supplement which we reviewed, which makes similarly ridiculous claims.
Save your money and stay far away from anything to do with this brand.