Soul Drops is a company that makes “sacred plant elixirs” with “loving shamanic energy.” These descriptions raise red flags to us about the legitimacy and safety of the brand's supplements.

But do Soul Drops contain ingredients proven in medical studies to improve health or mental wellness? Do they contain any dangerous ingredients? Can you really "microdose" these herbs? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of Soul Drops?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we explain why we find the company's claims about microdosing to be unscientific, and share our concerns about dosage and safety issues.

We'll also feature real customer reviews, and discuss why the founder of Soul Drops may be ill-equipped to formulate dietary supplements.

Can You Really "Microdose" Herbs?

Microdosing is a term that refers to taking very low doses of psychoactive compounds like LSD, psilocybin or cannabis.

Typically the dosage is below the level that induces a hallucinogenic effect, but it can improve creativity, and there is even some promising early research suggesting that microdosing psychoactive substances may benefit people with depression.

Soul Drops uses the term "microdosing" frequently in their marketing, as shown above, but we're not sure that the company understands what it means.

You can't "microdose" a non-psychoactive substance, and none of Soul Drops' supplements appear to be psychoactive.

Just like you can't "microdose" a smoothie or "microdose" vitamin C, it's illogical to suggest that one can "microdose" non-psychoactive herbal supplements like those sold by Soul Drops.

Taking a smaller dose of an herbal supplement will just cause fewer biological effects.

We consider it to be a red flag that Soul Drops makes claims about microdosing without proving that their formulations are psychoactive.

Potentially Dangerous Ingredients

Some Soul Drops supplements contain ingredients shown in clinical studies to be toxic or otherwise harmful to human health, or have lacking safety data.

Wild rue is included in the "Cosmos" supplement, and a medical review published in the Pharmacognosy journal documented "many reports of intoxications" following ingestion of some parts of this plant.

Abuelo sanango is a tropical tree native to the Amazon.

We can't find any safety studies at all on this ingredient; not even animal studies.

Further, Soul Drops fails to publish what specific part of the plant is used, which is important for consumer safety because different parts of a plant (like the bark or leaves) can have differing safety profiles.

Boa vine is another ingredient that we can't find any safety studies on (even animal studies), and Soul Drops publishes no data proving it's safe.

The lack of clarity on the safety of the ingredients in Soul Drops concerns us.

Failure to Publish Critical Information

At the time of updating this article, Soul Drops fails to publish a Supplement Facts label on any of its products detailing the dosage of each ingredient.

This violates FDA requirements for herbal supplement manufacturers.

Without dosages, it's impossible for consumers (or researchers like us) to determine the safety of an ingredient. Ingredients may be safe at one dose but very dangerous at 3x that dose (caffeine is a good example of this).

As shown in the image below, Soul Drops also fails to publish the botanical name of each plant ingredient used.

This is another consumer safety issue, because clinical research refers to plant ingredients by their botanical name, not their colloquial name.

Sometimes two entirely different plants can be referred to by the same colloquial name. Consider "Indian ginseng" and "Asian ginseng" which are entirely different plant species, but share the same name.

We cannot locate any medical studies on "boa vine" and we don't even know what specific plant Soul Drops is referring to here because the botanical name is not published.

Real People Try Soul Drops

A YouTube creator named "The Aurora Codes" reviewed three Soul Drops products:

A TikTok user named Madison Lagace explains a benefit she attained from Soul Drops supplementation:

@madisonlagaceugc @Soul Drops ♬ original sound - Madison Lagace

Who's Behind Soul Drops?

The founder of Soul Drops is a woman by the name of Vlada Talan.

She has no medical credentials, and her website claims that she “sought to learn a process of intense energy healing called Cosmoenergy.”

The process page on the Soul Drops website states that the founder "draws on 20 years of shamanic plant healing and herbalism to infuse them with powerful energy."

There is, of course, no proof that Soul Drops have more "energy" than other supplements, nor how that energy would be quantified.

We are concerned by the vague health claims made by Soul Drops, and we recommend that consumers be extremely wary of health brands making strange claims without any proof of such claims.

Our Clean Supplement Picks

There are herbal supplements with ingredients that are clinically shown to be effective.

Here's our supplement picks in each of the top categories that Soul Drops sells:

Focus

Soul Drops sells a supplement called "MIND" that's intended to promote focus and concentration.

Mind Lab Pro by Performance Lab is our top nootropic pick.

This is the first Illuminate Labs Certified supplement, and has been shown to be effective for short-term cognitive improvements in two clinical trials published in peer-reviewed journals.

Energy

Soul Drops sells a supplement called "SOL" that's used for energy.

Pique Breakfast Black Tea Sticks is our top whole food energy pick.

Black tea consumption is "associated with rapid increases in alertness and information processing capacity" according to a clinical trial, and Pique's tea is organic and comes in convenient stick packs that can be mixed into water, so a teapot or kettle are not needed.

Relaxation

Soul Drops sells a supplement called "LUN" that's used to promote relaxation.

Cornbread CBD Lotion is our top pick for a topical stress-reliever.

CBD is clinically shown to be absorbed through the skin, and was shown in a 2020 medical review to be a "promising" natural treatment for anxiety disorders.

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

Soul Drops Pros and Cons

Here are the pros and cons of Soul Drops in our opinion:

Pros:

• Packaged in glass

Cons:

• Founder has no relevant background
• Doesn't appear to be clinically tested
• Failure to publish active ingredient doses
• Failure to publish botanical names of active ingredients
• Questionable health claims on brand's website
• Wild rue has been clinically shown to be toxic in humans
• Microdosing claims are illogical given non-psychoactive nature of supplements

Conclusion

We do not currently recommend any Soul Drops supplements, and we are concerned about the safety of these supplements.

The brand fails to publish a Supplement Facts label for any of their products at the time of updating this article, fails to publish the botanical names of the plants they include in their products, and fails to publish dosage information for the ingredients in their products.

This company is run by someone with no apparent medical credentials who calls themselves a shaman.

We believe deeply in the power of plant medicine and even psychedelics to have the capacity to help some people.

However, it's important to only take botanical compounds within a dosing range that has been clinically shown to be safe and effective, to reduce the risk of potential harm.