SkinnyFit is a wellness brand that sells everything from weight loss supplements to collagen supplements, detox teas and superfood blends. The brand suggests that some of their supplements can make you "look and feel younger" while others can help customers "achieve a healthy weight."
But do SkinnyFit supplements contain ingredients with anti-aging and weight loss effects? Does the brand use any unhealthy ingredients? Did our Product Tester lose weight using SkinnyFit for a month? And how does SkinnyFit compare to other skincare and weight loss brands?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in the most popular SkinnyFit supplements (Super Youth, Detox Tea, and Skinny Greens) to give our take on whether or not they're likely to be effective, and whether or not they're healthy.
We'll share our Product Tester's honest experience purchasing and testing Skinny Greens for a month (including weight tracking), and compare SkinnyFit to other popular weight loss and skincare brands to pick our winners.
Key takeaways:
- Super Youth provides effective collagen dose
- Skinny Greens contains some research-backed active ingredients
- We don't currently recommend any SkinnyFit products due to inactive ingredient profiles
SkinnyFit Super Youth Review
The ingredients in SkinnyFit Super Youth are shown below:
Some of the ingredients in this supplement have research backing for anti-aging effects.
Collagen peptides were shown in a medical review published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology to improve skin elasticity and hydration, and reduce signs of visible skin aging, with a minimally effective dose of 2.5 grams (g) per day.
Two scoops of Super Youth provides 15.6 g of collagen which is an effective dose, and it may be useful to take around 60% of this serving size to save money, because 10 g of collagen appears to be the maximally-effective dose based on the above-linked medical review.
Hyaluronic acid is effective for reducing wrinkles, but may be underdosed in this supplement.
Super Youth only provides 50 milligrams (mg) of hyaluronic acid per serving, while most of the medical research we've reviewed on this compound (like this clinical trial) used a dose greater than 100 mg.
There are also two inactive ingredients in this formulation that we consider questionable from a health perspective.
Natural flavors is a broad descriptor which fails to detail the specific chemical compounds used as flavoring agents. As we documented in our Morning Complete reviews article on another supplement containing this ingredient, at least one medical review suggests that some flavoring compounds may be toxic.
Citric acid is a flavor enhancer and preservative. It's naturally found in citrus fruits, but well over 90% of the citric acid used in manufacturing is sourced from a fungus called Aspergilus niger according to the below-linked review.
As detailed in a medical review from 2018, some individuals experience whole-body inflammation in response to citric acid consumption, which is why we typically recommend avoiding this compound.
Overall, we consider Super Youth likely to have an anti-aging effect due to its effective collagen dose, but we don't recommend the supplement due to its inactive ingredients and relatively high price ($0.20 per gram of collagen).
It's worth noting that SkinnyFit sells an unflavored version of Super Youth, but at the time of updating this article, the only ingredient list on their website includes flavors, which is confusing to us.
We Tested SkinnyFit
One of our product testers named Jodie Steinberg used Skinny Greens for 30 days. Here's her experience:
The packaging was extremely user-friendly. Easy to open and scoop.
It tastes very good. It is pretty sweet considering how many vegetables are in it. I think this would be a good option for people who don’t like the taste of vegetables to get some healthy ingredients into their diet.
I definitely noticed getting through a workout when I am tired is easier when I have taken Skinny Greens. The greatest thing I noticed is it lifts the brain fog I feel when I am tired or in general throughout the day starting in the morning.
I did not experience any side effects.
I weighed 140 pounds when I started. 30 days later I was 136. However, I was already on an exercise and diet regimen to lose weight.
Overall, I would rate this product an 8/10.
SkinnyFit Detox Tea Review
The ingredients in SkinnyFit Detox Tea peach flavor are shown below:
We have not come across any medical evidence that herbal teas can detoxify the body, or that otherwise healthy individuals need to detoxify using teas or other health products (the liver and kidneys are very efficient at detoxifying the body), which is why we recommend caution with all teas marketed for detox benefits.
A recent medical case report documented that a patient suffered acute liver failure from a different herbal detoxification tea product called "Yogi's Detox Tea."
We don't consider the herbal ingredients in SkinnyFit's tea to be dangerous, but this tea blend also contains natural flavors and citric acid, so we do not recommend it.
The tea brand we recommend is called Pique, and the brand sells green tea, black tea and a variety of herbal teas such as turmeric, chaga and reishi. The Pique teas linked are free of flavoring additives and citric acid, and most cost well under $2 per serving, while SkinnyFit Detox Tea costs $2.86 per serving.
SkinnyFit Skinny Greens Review
The ingredients in SkinnyFit Skinny Greens are shown below:
Organic wheat grass powder and spinach leaf powder are two of a large number of plant-based ingredients in this formulation.
An extensive medical review published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that fruit and vegetable supplements improved nutritional status, reduced inflammation and improved immune function.
Fruit and vegetable supplements may be especially effective for those who avoid consuming fruits and veggies from their diet, and may reduce cardiovascular disease risk, as we documented in our review of another fruit and veggie supplement called Balance of Nature.
Digestive enzymes are included in this supplement, and we haven't seen any medical evidence that individuals without digestive issues benefit from supplemental digestive enzymes.
Glucomannan is the primary weight loss ingredient, but it may be underdosed in this formulation.
A 2005 medical review described the effective daily dose of glucomannan for weight loss to be 2,000 mg to 4,000 mg. The average ingredient dose in Skinny Greens' "Waist-Slimming Blend" is only 107 mg, or 19x less than the minimum effective glucomannan dose according to the above-linked study.
Skinny Greens also has natural flavors and citric acid, which we recommend avoiding for reasons described earlier in this article.
We do not consider Skinny Greens likely to be effective for weight loss because we're unable to identify any active ingredients that we consider effectively dosed based on a review of clinical studies.
We do not recommend this supplement overall due to the questionable additive ingredients.
Dietary fiber was shown in a medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition to cause 16 pounds of weight loss in 6 months when combined with moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline).
MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top weight loss 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.
SkinnyFit vs. Popular Weight Loss Brands
Here's how SkinnyFit stacks up against other popular weight loss and skincare brands in terms of potential effectiveness and healthiness, in our opinion:
Plexus
Better weight loss formulation than SkinnyFit, worse collagen formulation.
Sued in 2015 over allegations of relatively high lead levels.
Winner: SkinnyFit
Konscious Keto
Dietary supplement company that makes unproven claims about "AI dieting" which we find unlikely.
Gut health supplement Emma is better-formulated in our view than anything we reviewed from SkinnyFit.
Winner: Konscious Keto
Xyngular
Similar formulation quality; unimpressive active ingredient profiles and doses, and inactive ingredients we consider unhealthy.
SkinnyFit is a higher quality brand in our opinion given that it doesn't have ethical issues related to MLM business model (which we documented in our Xyngular review article).
Winner: SkinnyFit
SkinnyFit Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Super Youth may have an anti-aging effect
- Unflavored Super Youth passes our formulation test
- No harmful active ingredients
- Mostly positive customer reviews on Amazon
Cons:
- Some products contain flavoring additives
- Some products contain citric acid
- Uncited health claims for detox tea
- Expensive
- Shipping fees from brand website even on expensive orders
- Supplements don't appear clinically tested
