BioFit Review: Can Probiotic Pills Cause Weight Loss?

BioFit Review: Can Probiotic Pills Cause Weight Loss?


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BioFit is a weight loss supplement made with probiotics manufactured by a brand called Vitalina.

In this article we’ll review the ingredients in BioFit to provide our determination on whether or not this supplement is likely to be effective for weight loss. We'll also share some concerns we have about the manufacturer.

At the time of updating this article, Vitalina appears to have discontinued BioFit as the product is not currently showing on their website. We'll leave the ingredient review up incase the brand re-launches this product, and we'll also highlight some research-backed weight loss supplements for the convenience of our readers.

Ingredient Review

BioFit ingredients list

At the time of originally publishing this article, Vitalina did not have a Supplement Facts label on either their website or the BioFit Amazon page. The ingredient list above comes from the product's Amazon listing, but it fails to publish doses as would be required on a Supplement Facts label. 

We consider this to be a red flag, because dosage information is important for consumer safety.

Dietary supplement manufacturers are required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. to publish a Supplement Facts label. We recommend that consumers avoid any supplements without this critical information.

BioFit contains 172.5 billion colony-forming-units (CFU) of a probiotic blend. This is a very high dose that may cause gastrointestinal distress in some consumers. According to the American Family Physician journal, the typical probiotic dosing range for adults is around 10 billion to 20 billion CFU per day.

The first ingredient is lactobacillus acidophilus which is a strange choice for a weight loss formulation. As we documented in our Floraspring review article of another weight loss probiotic supplement, there is medical research suggesting that this ingredient actually causes weight gain.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus has been proven in a clinical trial published in 2014 to cause weight loss, but BioFit only publishes the species and not the specific strain of probiotic. The strain found in the medical study to cause weight loss was lactobacillus rhamnosus CGMCC1.3724. We will consider this ingredient potentially effective for weight loss.

The remaining five probiotic species may be effective for weight loss depending on the strain, but because Vitalina fails to publish the probiotic strain and only publishes the probiotic species, we cannot determine conclusively. 

We consider it to be a sign of a low-quality supplement manufacturer when the probiotic strain is not published, because this is important information. Different probiotic strains can have significantly different biological effects, even within the same species.

Overall we consider this supplement potentially effective for weight loss, but we would not recommend it because it's impossible to determine efficacy if only the probiotic species is published.

There are no ingredients in this formulation that we consider to be harmful or toxic.

Manufacturer Concerns

We have concerns about BioFit's manufacturer Vitalina. The brand manufactured another weight loss supplement that we found to be poorly-formulated called Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic, and Vitalina appears to have removed that product from their website and Amazon as well.

We recommend avoiding the dietary supplement brand Vitalina entirely. They manufacture other supplements, but we consider them a low-quality brand based on the two formulations we've reviewed on Illuminate Health.

Our Weight Loss Supplement Recommendations

There are several weight loss products that we recommend due to their research backing and lack of side effects.

Dietary fiber is a safe and effective weight loss supplement.

An extensive medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition found that dietary fiber intake directly predicts weight loss when consumed at a high enough dose. Fiber is zero-calorie plant matter that makes you feel full faster, and consume fewer calories overall.

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 fiber. This is within the effective fiber dosing range associated with the greatest weight loss outcomes in the above-linked study.

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.

BioFit Real User Review

One of the most popular YouTube reviews of BioFit is published by a channel called "RealLifeReviews." The video appears to be unsponsored and the creator shares her experience using BioFit:

Does BioFit Cause Side Effects?

Consumers are often curious about whether BioFit is likely to cause side effects, because of how many weight loss supplements and prescription medications do.

We don't believe that BioFit is likely to cause significant side effects based on its formulation. Even though we don't recommend the supplement, we don't believe it's likely to be harmful.

As stated in the ingredient review section, the relatively high probiotic dose may cause minor gastrointestinal side effects in some individuals such as gas and bloating. To minimize risk of this side effect, it may be logical to take a smaller serving than recommended for the first BioFit serving just to test the effects of the supplement and ensure that it doesn't cause any discomfort.

Should I Buy BioFit From Different Manufacturers?

Even though Vitalina has apparently discontinued BioFit, there are a number of other manufacturers on Amazon selling products called "BioFit." We do not recommend purchasing BioFit from any of these companies, as Vitalina was the official manufacturer.

In our opinion, dietary supplements made by companies other than the official manufacturer tend to be poorly formulated. It's a sign of a low-quality supplement brand to create a product with the same name as a competitor to try to take their market share.

Stay up-to-date on our research reviews

Conclusion

 We do not recommend BioFit for various reasons. The manufacturer failed to publish Supplement Facts labels on either their website or the product's Amazon listing. The probiotic strain was not listed for any of the probiotic ingredients.

BioFit may be effective for weight loss because some of the probiotic species are effective for weight loss, but it's impossible to tell definitively because the manufacturer fails to publish dosage or probiotic strain.

It appears that the official manufacturer of BioFit has discontinued the product. 

We recommend avoiding all supplements sold by the official manufacturer of BioFit called Vitalina. This brand has manufactured two separate supplements that we reviewed poorly, and has since discontinued both products.

Many other brands are now selling products called BioFit on Amazon, and we would recommend avoiding all such products. In our opinion, "knock-off" products sold by companies other than the official manufacturer tend to be poorly-formulated.

Dietary fiber and MCT oil are research-backed weight loss supplements without any significant side effects.




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