Bye Bye Belly Juice is a weight loss product sold on Etsy and a few online retailers. The Etsy shop selling this product is called “KWUSpa” and they describe their product as possessing the ability to “flatten your belly, get rid of toxins, speed up metabolism…without strict dieting.”
But can juice mixes really cause weight loss? What’s actually in these products? And are they safe?
In this article we’ll answer these questions and more as we review the ingredients in Bye Bye Belly Juice and give our take on whether the product is likely to be effective. We’ll highlight some consumer safety issues we have with this product, and share a popular animated video on misconceptions about juice cleanses.
Ingredient Safety Issues
The Bye Bye Belly Juice Etsy page states that the ingredients are composed of a mix of Slimmer Max Formula and a “special sauce.”
We have no information about the ingredients used in that “special sauce” and this product appears to violate both Etsy and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, which explicitly state that dietary supplements are required to publish the full ingredient list.
Bye Bye Belly Juice would be categorized as a dietary supplement, even though it’s a juice, because it contains functional herbs like ashwagandha extract.
We strongly recommend that consumers avoid wellness products that fail to include a full ingredient list, as this is a consumer safety issue. Without the full list of ingredients, it’s impossible to make an informed purchase decision and ensure that the product is safe. We consider it to be unacceptable and an ethical violation for a brand to sell a product with ingredients in a “special sauce” that’s unlisted, and we would recommend avoiding this product for this reason alone.
We don’t understand why anyone would purchase this product given that it’s just composed of an already-existing product called “Slimmer Max Formula” which is sold by a brand called Heart & Body Naturals. Since that is the product that contains the weight loss ingredients, we don’t understand why any consumers would purchase Bye Bye Belly Juice which is just Slimmer Max and unlisted flavoring ingredients.
Ingredient Review
As stated in the previous section, all of the active ingredients in Bye Bye Belly Juice appear to come from a supplement called Slimmer Max, and the ingredients of that supplement are shown above.
Slimmer Max does contain some effective weight loss ingredients.
Green coffee bean extract can induce weight loss. A medical review published in the Gastroenterology Research and Practice journal analyzed data from three clinical trials on green coffee bean extract and weight loss.
The study authors found that in all trials reviewed, green coffee bean extract caused weight loss, and the average weight loss was 5.45 pounds. The trials lasted an average of nine weeks.
Garcinia cambogia extract is another effective ingredient. As we documented in our Leanbean review article, medical studies show that this ingredient causes short-term weight loss when appropriately dosed.
While Bye Bye Belly Juice may be effective for weight loss due to its inclusion of several weight loss ingredients, we cannot recommend the product overall because the doses of those ingredients are not published (either on Bye Bye Belly Juice’s Etsy listing or on the Slimmer Max website).
Again, we consider this to be a serious consumer safety issue and a violation of FDA guidelines. Supplement companies are required to publish dosing information because this is the only way consumers can determine the safety of a supplement.
Almost any ingredient has a safe dosing range, and a dose that may be unsafe. Consider caffeine. This ingredient is well-studied and safe at a dose of 100 milligrams (mg), for example, but could be deadly at a dose over 2,000 mg. Without the dosing information, consumers have no way to know if a supplement is safe or harmful.
This is the first weight loss supplement that we’ve reviewed on Illuminate Health that failed to publish a Supplement Facts label including dosage information of the active ingredients, and we urge the FDA to investigate both Bye Bye Belly Juice and Slimmer Max for potential safety violations.
Are Juice Cleanses Effective?
One of the most popular YouTube videos on juice cleanses is an animated video that’s achieved over 600,000 views, and which highlights some of the issues with juice cleanses.
While any diet can cause short-term weight loss if it provides less calories than an individual burns daily, we consider all health claims regarding “detoxification” made by juice cleanse brands like Bye Bye Belly Juice to be unscientific:
Bye Bye Belly Juice Side Effects
Consumers are often curious about whether juice cleanses are likely to cause side effects given that they typically are a drastic change from a user’s regular diet.
While we don’t consider any of the active ingredients in Slimmer Max to be harmful or likely to cause side effects, we can’t say definitely that this product will be side-effect-free because the doses aren’t published.
As stated earlier in the article, we consider the side effect risk of this product to be higher than a product with doses published, because many active ingredients (even safe ones) may cause side effects when used at a high enough dose. Further, there’s the “secret sauce” without published ingredients, so any of the ingredients in that may cause side effects.
Basically, it’s impossible to conclusively determine whether or not Bye Bye Belly Juice is likely to cause side effects because of the lack of the full set of ingredients and the lack of published ingredient doses.
Our Clean Weight Loss Picks
There are food-based nutrients which have been shown in medical studies to be effective for weight loss.
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).
Supergut Fiber Mix is our recommended fiber supplement, because it contains three different types of fiber powder and no questionable additive ingredients. Interested consumers can check out Supergut Fiber Mix at this link to the product page on the brand's official website, where it retails for under $2 per serving at a subscription rate.
MCT oil is quickly absorbed by the body and increases metabolic rate, which causes fat loss. A 2015 meta-study on MCT oil documented more than one pound of weight loss over 10 weeks. This equates to potential annualized weight loss of 6 pounds per year with less than one tablespoon's worth of MCT oil per day.
Bulletproof MCT Oil is our top MCT oil product, because the only ingredient is MCT oil derived from coconuts. There are no questionable additives. Interested consumers can check out Bulletproof MCT Oil at this link to the product page on the brand's official website, where it currently costs only $15.50 for over a month's worth of product.
Coffee is one of the few whole food ingredients associated with weight loss in clinical trials. A meta-analysis published in the Nutrients journal found that coffee intake was associated with reduced body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.
VitaCup Organic Instant Coffee Sticks is our top coffee product for weight loss, due to its convenience. No preparation or machinery is needed. The sticks can be mixed into hot or cold water (or other beverages) and consumed. The only ingredient is organic instant coffee; no questionable additives.
Interested consumers can check out VitaCup Organic Instant Coffee Sticks at this link to the product page on the brand's official website, where they retail for $1 per serving at a subscription rate.
