Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice. All statements are merely the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that patients follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to weight loss.

The VibroSculpt is a device that claims to burn fat through vibration applied to the skin. The device rotates at a speed of 2,600 revolutions per minute (RPM), and the brand claims this can provide benefits from reduced waist circumference to flatter abs to minimized cellulite.

In this article we’ll review medical studies to provide our determination on whether these claims are likely to be legitimate, or if VibroSculpt is just selling a dream.

Lack of Citations for Health Claims

It’s notable that VibroSculpt has no science section of their site or any citations for the bold health and aesthetic claims they make, such as that the device's "micro-vibration" and "micro-compression technology" works to "tighten figure." The burden of proof is on the manufacturer to provide evidence that their medical device is effective, and VibroSculpt’s site doesn’t appear to do so at all.

We find this lack of medical citations or research to be a red flag about the company, and we recommend that consumers generally avoid products making bold health or aesthetic claims without making any attempt to prove those claims.

Most medical devices for improving skin, like the SolaWave, at least link to a few medical trials suggesting how or why the product will work.

Do Handheld Vibration Devices Burn Fat?

We’ve already covered the fact that the VibroScuplt itself hasn’t been proven to work in medical studies, but it’s worthwhile to investigate whether there is any evidence that the class of medical devices is effective generally.

VibroSculpt is described as a “micro-vibration” and “micro-compression” device on the product’s homepage. We searched PubMed, which is one of the largest databases of medical trials, for both terms and found no relevant results.

We did locate one medical trial suggesting that vibration plate machines found in gyms may be effective for fat loss, but these devices are totally different from a handheld “micro-vibration” device.

The clinical trial linked above documented that overweight patients who used vibration plate machines at the gym in addition to a restricted-calorie diet had superior weight loss outcomes to patients on a restricted-calorie diet alone.

We cannot locate any medical studies suggesting that handheld vibration devices cause fat loss or any other aesthetic benefit. Nor does Vibrosculpt appear to link to any on their website. We will conclude that this type of device is unlikely to provide any benefits, health or otherwise.

Real User Tries VibroSculpt

A video on VibroSculpt's YouTube page shows someone using the device. Because this is on the manufacturer's page, we would recommend ignoring any claims of efficacy, but it can be useful to see what the device looks like and how it's properly used:

Fat Loss Devices With Research Backing

While we're unable to identify any clinical research suggesting VibroSculpt is effective, there are two other medical treatments that we've reviewed on Illuminate Health that had significant clinical backing.

We recently reviewed a treatment called CoolSculpting which has impressive research backing it. This treatment destroys fat cells by exposing them to extreme cold temperatures via a handheld device, which is administered by a healthcare professional (CoolSculpting can't be used at home like VibroSculpt).

We don’t recommend CoolSculpting (yet) because we’d like to see more long-term safety data, but there have been several clinical trials and research reviews published in legitimate medical journals proving the efficacy of this treatment for weight loss and fat loss. No major side effects were noted in the trials.

Liposuction treatments like Sonobello are also proven to be effective for cosmetic fat loss, but these treatments come with more health risks than CoolSculpting or VibroSculpt. The linked review we published highlights some of the medical studies on liposuction for fat removal and the side effects.

We want to be clear that we don’t recommend either CoolSculpting or Sonobello, and only recommend lifestyle changes for weight loss. However we felt it would be valuable to consumers considering VibroSculpt to read about a few other treatment alternatives which actually are proven to work in medical studies.

Our Weight Loss Supplement Recommendations

There exist several weight loss supplements with significant clinical backing in terms of both efficacy and safety.

We recommend dietary fiber as a safe and effective weight loss supplement, especially when combined with caloric restriction.

A landmark medical study found that moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline) combined with dietary fiber intake (a minimum of 20 grams per day) caused an average weight loss of 16.03 pounds over 6 months. That’s a pace of 32 pounds per year of weight loss in overweight individuals simply by adding fiber to a moderately-restricted-calorie diet.

The fiber supplement we recommend is SuperGut Fiber Mix. It contains a clean and effective formulation: a blend of three different types of unflavored dietary fiber and zero additive ingredients. It can be mixed into liquids or foods. Interested consumers can buy SuperGut fiber at this link.

We recommend using two fiber mixes per day, which provides 16 grams (g) of total fiber. Diet should provide the remaining fiber necessary to meet the 20 g minimum threshold.

Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil is another dietary supplement which has been shown in clinical trials to cause weight loss.

MCT oil is quickly absorbed by the body and increases metabolic rate, which causes fat loss. A meta-study on MCT oil documented weight loss of 1.12 pounds over 10 weeks. This equates to a potential annualized weight loss of 5.84 pounds with MCT oil supplementation.

We recommend Bulletproof MCT Oil as our top MCT oil product, because it has a clean and effective formulation. The only ingredient is MCT oil derived from coconuts, and the product has no questionable additives. Interested consumers can buy Bulletproof MCT Oil at this link.

The effective dose range of MCT oil for weight loss (based on the medical review) is 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.

VibroSculpting Pros and Cons

Here are our thoughts on the pros and cons of VibroSculpting:

Pros:

• Cheaper than CoolSculpting
• No side effects

Cons:

• No proof of efficacy
• Bold, uncited health claims on manufacturer website
• Questionable mechanism of action

Conclusion

We do not recommend VibroSculpt and consider it to be a waste of money. We can't identify any clinical research backing the effectiveness of this product for weight or fat loss, and we don't believe that vibrations applied to the skin via a handheld device is likely to cause fat loss.

In fact, “micro-vibration” and “micro-compression” aren’t even clinically-defined terms, and return no results in PubMed.

VibroSculpt makes a number of health and aesthetic claims on their website without any citation or proof for said claims. This is a red flag in our opinion about the ethics and legitimacy of the business.

While we don’t recommend either, there are medical treatment options for weight and fat loss like Sonobello and CoolSculpting which actually have research backing their efficacy.