310 Nutrition is a brand that makes meal replacement shakes for weight loss. Their products are extremely popular, as the brand claims to have sold over 4 million shakes since launching.
But does 310 Nutrition use research-backed ingredients for weight loss? Why was the brand sued by a non-profit? Are the products healthy? And how do real users rate and describe their effects?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in 310 Nutrition shakes and meals to give our take on whether or not they're likely to support weight loss, and whether or not they're healthy.
We'll also document a lawsuit faced by the brand, and share a real user's review.
Key takeaways:
- Meal replacement shakes have too low calories
- Some shakes contain ingredients we consider unhealthy
- We do not currently recommend 310 Nutrition
Why Was 310 Nutrition Sued?
In 2016, a non-profit organization based in California called the Environmental Research Center (ERC) sued 310 Nutrition, alleging that some of their products contained high levels of heavy metals lead and cadmium, without a label warning.
The lawsuit alleges the following: "Prior to ERC’s Notice of Violation and this Complaint, 310 Nutrition failed to provide a warning on the labels of the SUBJECT PRODUCTS."
What's somewhat comical is that 310 Nutrition now includes warnings on their product labels, but claims on their website to do so only out of goodwill.
The following text is from 310 Nutrition's Prop 65 page: "Not all companies comply and many do so only after a lawsuit, but 310 has voluntarily elected to provide Proposition 65 warnings to California customers."
We mostly agree with 310 Nutrition that the Prop 65 limits enforced by California are unscientific and poorly-chosen, but we consider it to be questionable for the brand to position their claims in this way, given the prior lawsuit.
Extremely Low Calories
The calories in 310 All-In-One shake are shown below:
This doesn’t come close to the caloric requirements of a meal for an adult.
Caloric requirements vary significantly between individuals based on sex and weight, among other factors, but a very broad general requirement according to medical data is 2,000 calories per day for adult women and 2,500 calories per day for adult men.
Overweight adults will have an even higher caloric requirement.
This equates to a 667 calorie requirement per meal for women and 833 calorie requirement per meal for men, for adults eating three meals per day.
310 Nutrition All-In-One shake provides only 17% of the average caloric requirement of a meal for women, and 13% of the average caloric requirement of a meal for men.
A 110 calorie formulation may make for a healthy snack, but it doesn’t provide enough energy to be considered a meal in our opinion, so we recommend the brand stop referring to these shakes as "meal replacements."
Unnecessary Vitamin and Mineral Blend
Riboflavin and chromium are two ingredients of 25 in a “310 Vitamin & Mineral Blend.”
We don't understand why a meal replacement shake would require such a large number of synthetic vitamin and mineral additives.
First, we cannot identify any medical research suggesting that blends of vitamins and minerals cause weight loss.
More importantly, we consider it to be healthier and safer to obtain vitamins and minerals from whole foods.
Another wellness brand recently had to recall their shakes from the market because the added vitamins were causing toxicity to some customers.
A medical review of multivitamin intake found that use of daily multivitamins provided no health benefit and slightly increased the risk of certain types of cancers.
Is 310 Nutrition Healthy?
source: 310nutrition.com
Many of the ingredients in 310 Nutrition All-In-One shakes are whole foods. The shakes contain a protein blend with three different types of plant-based proteins.
Jerusalem artichoke, chaga mushroom and spirulina are three of the ingredients in this blend that most Americans likely don't consume regularly.
We know from medical research that eating a wide variety of different types of fruits and vegetables helps optimize gut function, and 310 Nutrition Shakes do provide a large number of different whole foods, which is a good thing.
Maca root is the one whole food ingredient we take issue with.
As we documented in our review of another nutrition shake brand called Shakeology, the correct form of maca to consume is gelatinized maca. Raw maca is an indigestible starch, similar to raw potato, and can cause intestinal discomfort.
Overall, we consider 310 Nutrition All-In-One Meal Shakes to be relatively nutritious, but we don't consider them healthy due to the inclusion of raw maca root, and ingredients discussed in the previous section.
Questionable Additive Ingredients
Natural flavoring is healthier than artificial flavoring, but as documented in a review published in the Toxicology Research medical journal, there is potential toxicity associated with some flavoring compounds.
Without manufacturers publishing the exact chemicals used to produce the flavor, there is no way for consumers or researchers like us to assess the safety.
Thus, we recommend avoiding all products containing “natural flavor” out of an abundance of caution, because it doesn’t detail which chemicals are actually used.
Amylases and lipase are part of a digestive enzyme blend.
Our takeaway here is similar to our takeaway with the synthetic vitamin and mineral additives: it seems illogical to take a blend of digestive enzymes without a deficiency. Digestive enzymes are produced by the body, and most people don’t need exogenous supplementation.
Folic acid is a synthetic form of a B-vitamin which has been associated with slightly increased risk of prostate cancer when supplemented.
Will 310 Nutrition Cause Weight Loss?
Any meal that provides fewer calories than maintenance can help with weight loss, but 310 Nutrition doesn't appear to have been proven effective for weight loss in any clinical trials.
The one pro of 310 shakes for weight loss is that they have a relatively high level of protein (15 grams), and protein intake has been associated with improved weight loss outcomes in research studies.
Protein increases satiation (sense of fullness). It’s nearly impossible to eat 2,000 calories of steak in one sitting for most people due to the high protein content, but it’s possible to eat 2,000 calories of pizza, due to the low protein content.
We consider 310 Nutrition potentially effective for short-term weight loss, but we're unconvinced in the long-term weight loss outcomes, due to how low the calorie count is per meal.
YouTuber Tries 310 Nutrition
A YouTube creator named "Flawed_but_fabulousone" claims that 310 Nutrition shakes helped her lose 90 pounds:
Our Clean Weight Loss Picks
Ceylon cinnamon was described as "an effective anti-obesity agent" in a 2022 meta-analysis. The study authors concluded that effects were greater at doses at or over 3 grams daily.
Illuminate Labs Ceylon Cinnamon Extract is our standardized Ceylon cinnamon supplement which is third-party tested to ensure purity and potency.
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 fiber 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.
Both of the products mentioned in this section are free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Where to Get the Best Price
310 Nutrition supplements are available at a variety of online retailers. Here's a price breakdown for a one-time purchase of the All-In-One Meal at the time of updating this article:
Brand website: $89.99 (plus $6.99 shipping, link)
Walmart: $89.99 (free shipping, link)
Amazon: $89.99 (free shipping, link to official Amazon listing)
This supplement is currently around 7% cheaper at Amazon and Walmart than the brand's website, when factoring in shipping fees.
310 Nutrition Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of 310 Nutrition in our opinion:
Pros:
- Many whole food ingredients
- High level of protein per serving
- Free of artificial flavoring and added sugar
- May support short-term weight loss
Cons:
- Contains synthetic vitamin and mineral blend
- Contains digestive enzymes
- Contains natural flavoring
- Contains folic acid
- Only 110 calories
- Relatively expensive at around $2 per serving
- Doesn't appear to be clinically tested
