Skald Oxydynamic Fat Scorcher is a weight loss supplement manufactured by a company called Beldt. The company claims that their product can improve energy and cause fat loss.
In this article we’ll review the ingredients in Skald based on medical research to give our take on if it’s likely to be effective and safe for inducing weight loss. We’ll also explain issues we have with the product's labeling.
Ingredient Review
The first ingredient in Skald is caffeine at a modest dosage of 110 milligrams (mg), which is slightly more than the amount in one cup of coffee.
While there is medical research suggesting that caffeine supplementation can cause weight loss, typically the dosage is higher than that in Skald, and the effect seems to be more significant at higher doses of caffeine.
A medical review published in the Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition journal analyzed data on caffeine and weight loss. The researchers found that caffeine intake is associated with weight loss in a dose-dependent manner, meaning higher doses (to a limit) are associated with increased weight loss.
Only 2 of the 13 clinical trials analyzed in the above-linked review had a dose as low as that in Skald. We'll consider this ingredient potentially effective, but if there is a weight loss effect from this low a caffeine dose, we would expect it to be very minor.
N-Acetyl-Tyrosine is the second ingredient in Skald, and it’s an amino acid. We can’t find any research suggesting this ingredient is effective for weight loss, and in fact we found the opposite. One animal study found that tyrosine caused increases to appetite.
The third ingredient is green tea leaf extract, and this is a popular ingredient in many weight loss formulations, such as ProbioSlim which we recently reviewed. As we discussed in greater detail in that review, we don’t recommend this ingredient, especially when the dosage isn’t published, because high levels of green tea extract have been associated with safety risks due to potential toxicity.
Green tea leaf extract does appear to be effective for short-term weight loss, but we don’t recommend it due to the safety concerns.
Juniper extract is the next ingredient listed, and we can’t find a single medial study testing this ingredient for weight loss. Skald doesn’t publish or cite any research on their product page related to this plant compound, so we’ll assume it's ineffective for weight loss.
White willow bark extract is the next listed ingredient, and again we can’t find one single medical trial suggesting this is an effective ingredient for weight loss. This botanical is typically used for pain, and its active chemical compound salicin was used in the initial Asprin formulation.
The next two ingredients, verbascum thapsus leaf powder and elecampane root powder, are also questionable for a weight loss formulation in our opinion. We can't locate any medical data suggesting efficacy for either ingredient.
The manufacturer website describes elecampane as "used since Jesus Christ walked the earth to relieve the symptoms of lung complaints." This statement confuses us, because Skald is a weight loss supplement, not a lung health supplement. This raises a red flag about the competency of the product's formulators.
The final ingredient is piperine, which is a chemical compound extracted from black pepper. We found one animal study suggesting this ingredient may be effective for weight loss, but the dose used in the study was significantly higher than the entire Skald proprietary (prop) blend dose. A 40 milligram per kilogram (mg/kg) dose was used in the study, which would be equivalent to a 3,200 mg dose for an average-weight man. The entire Skald blend is 356 mg, which is 10x less than what was found to be an effective dose of that one single ingredient in the animal study.
Skald also contains the additive ingredient titanium dioxide which has been banned in the European Union (E.U.) due to toxicity concerns. We recommend avoiding this ingredient.
Overall we consider this to be a very poorly-formulated product, and we don't recommend it. We do not believe that Skald is likely to be effective for weight loss.
We only consider one of the eight active ingredients in Skald to be potentially effective for weight loss at the included dosage.
Prop Blend Issues
As referenced in the previous section, Skald lists their ingredients in the format of a “prop blend," which means that the company lists the dose of all of the ingredients combined, but not the dose of all of the individual ingredients.
We find prop blends to be unethical and in some cases unsafe for consumers. Manufacturers will claim that it allows them to protect “trade secrets”, which doesn’t follow logically since most supplements (including Skald) have never been tested in legitimate clinical trials to prove their effectiveness anyway.
The main way that prop blends benefit supplement manufacturers is it allows them to include small, insignificant amounts of exotic ingredients to fill out their Supplement Facts label and make it look more impressive.
A supplement company might sell a product with 100 milligrams (mg) of ashwagandha extract and 1 mg of valerian and 1 mg of St. John’s Wort.
The prop blend would simply report a total dosage of 102 mg of the three ingredients, which would lead consumers to believe that they were similarly dosed.
We generally recommend avoiding supplements which list ingredients in prop blends. It's a sign of a low-quality manufacturer in our opinion (with the exception of brands that fund legitimate clinical trials on their products).
Our Weight Loss Supplement Recommendations
There are several dietary supplements we consider safe and effective for promoting weight loss. The first is dietary fiber, which is actually a food product rather than a supplement, but it has impressive research backing.
An extensive medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition analyzed data from 345 patients and found that fiber intake directly predicts weight loss. The reason fiber may be so successful for weight loss is because it fills up the stomach with zero-calorie, indigestible plant matter. This makes individuals feel full faster, and end up consuming fewer calories overall.
The reason it's much easier to eat 2,000 calories of a highly processed meal like pizza rather than 2,000 calories of rice and beans is because the latter meal is high in fiber.
We recommend SuperGut Fiber Mix for supplemental dietary fiber. It contains a clean and effective formulation: a blend of three different types of dietary fiber and zero additive ingredients. It can be mixed into liquids or foods and is unflavored. Interested consumers can buy SuperGut fiber at this link.
Supplemental fiber dosage should vary based on fiber intake from diet, but for the average American consumer with a relatively low fiber intake, a supplemental dosage of 16 grams (g) should be effective. This equates to two SuperGut fiber mixes daily.
Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil is another dietary supplement with impressive early research backing for weight loss.
MCT oil is quickly absorbed by the body and increases metabolic rate, which causes fat loss. A meta-study on MCT oil and weight loss analyzed data from 13 individual clinical trials on the topic. The average trial duration was 10 weeks, and the researchers documented an average weight loss of 0.51 kilograms (kg), which equates to 1.12 pounds (lbs). This equates to a potential annualized weight loss of 5.84 pounds with a simple dietary modification.
We recommend Bulletproof MCT Oil as our top MCT oil product, because it contains zero questionable additive ingredients. The only ingredient is MCT oil derived from coconuts. Interested consumers can buy Bulletproof MCT Oil at this link.
The above-linked medical review found the effective dose range of MCT oil for weight loss to be 1.7 g to 10 g per day. Bulletproof's MCT oil provides 14 g in one tablespoon, so around two-thirds of one tablespoon should be a maximally-effective dosage.
Skald Real User Reviews
Skald is sold on Amazon as well as through their manufacturer site, and we consider Amazon to be a good place for objective user reviews.
Skald's average Amazon rating is 3.5/5 stars which is one of the worst average Amazon ratings for a supplement we've reviewed on Illuminate Health.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named "B. Martin" who claims the product improved their energy and caused weight loss:
"losing at least 1/3 lb per day and I have energy at the end of each workout and throughout the day."
The top negative review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named "Glenda Simshauser" who claims the product caused them to gain weight:
"I was advised by a doctor to try this and it didn’t work. I gained weight in the time I was taking it. I didn’t start losing weight until after I finished it and cut a few other things out of my life like pop."
In our opinion, this is likely correlation and not causation. There are no ingredients in Skald likely to cause weight gain, and the supplement is non-caloric.
Questionable Health Claims on Website
Beldt's website contains many health claims about Skald that we consider questionable.
The manufacturer claims that users can "drop pounds of belly fat without hunger, without tiredness, without dangerous drugs..." with no proof or citation.
We strongly disagree with the practice of dietary supplement companies making bold health claims without any medical proof, and we recommend that consumers avoid such companies. It's a dishonest and unethical way to market products in our opinion, and a sign of a low-quality supplement brand.
