Dr. Ming Tea is a brand which claims their products cause weight loss. They describe their products as the “Number 1 slimming tea in the world.”
In this article we'll review the ingredients and formulation of some of Dr Ming's tea products to provide our determination on whether or not they're actually likely to cause weight loss. We'll highlight some issues we have with the brand's claims of "clinically proven results."
Dr. Ming Green Tea Ingredient Review
At the time of updating this article, it appears that Dr. Ming tea has updated their Green Tea formulation. There are now four ingredients in Dr. Ming Green Tea: green tea, senna, peppermint, and citrus sinesis.
Green Tea is the first ingredient, and we consider this to be a potentially effective weight loss ingredient. A medical review on green tea use in overweight and obese patient populations, published in the Cochrane Library, analyzed data from many medical studies on the topic and concluded the following:
"Green tea preparations appear to induce a small, statistically non‐significant weight loss in overweight or obese adults. Because the amount of weight loss is small, it is not likely to be clinically important."
Senna is the second ingredient in Dr. Ming Green Tea, and we haven't come across any medical research suggesting this plant causes weight loss, nor does Dr. Ming Tea cite any on their product page. We will consider this an ineffective ingredient.
We recommend avoiding senna tea unless otherwise prescribed by a doctor. A medical review from 2020 documents how long-term use of senna may cause liver injury, and is unadvisable.
Peppermint is the third ingredient in Dr. Ming’s Green Tea, and again we cannot identify a single clinical trial proving this ingredient to cause weight loss. We consider it ineffective.
Citrus sinesis is the botanical name for the sweet orange plant. Since Dr. Ming Tea uses an image of an herb to represent this ingredient, we're assuming they use the leaves of the tree rather than the oranges.
We haven't found any medical studies suggesting sweet orange leaves cause weight loss, nor are we able to find adequate safety data on this ingredient. It doesn't appear to be very well-studied for consumption in humans, and we would recommend avoiding it.
Overall we consider this tea to be unlikely to cause weight loss. We are only able to identify one potentially-effective ingredient, and that ingredient did not cause statistically significant weight reductions in medical studies.
We recommend avoiding two of the other three ingredients for health reasons.
Is Dr. Ming Pineapple Tea Better?
Dr. Ming sells a Pineapple Tea which the brand claims can also cause weight loss.
We already examined senna leaf and found it to be an ineffective ingredient for weight loss, and potentially unsafe for long-term use. We recommend avoiding this ingredient.
Rose hips are typically used to naturally reduce blood pressure, but we located a clinical trial which found that rose hip supplementation increased metabolic rate and reduced body fat mass. This study had animal subjects rather than human subjects which is a weaker standard of evidence, but we'll consider this ingredient potentially effective.
Orange peel is generally used in topical formulations to benefit skin. We can't find any medical studies suggesting this ingredient is effective for weight loss.
Pineapple has been associated in one rodent study with weight loss. We cannot find any human studies proving this ingredient effective, so we'll consider pineapple potentially effective for weight loss.
Overall we would consider Dr. Ming Pineapple Tea to have a superior formulation to Dr. Ming Green Tea for weight loss, because we consider two of its ingredients to be potentially effective for weight loss versus one for Dr. Ming Green Tea.
We do not recommend this formulation overall due to the inclusion of senna.
Questionable Health Claims
The homepage of Dr. Ming’s website features a section claiming their products are "Backed By Proven Results" such as "reduced waist circumference" and "eliminated excess weight."
These results are apparently backed by a "test group of 35 subjects" self-evaluating the efficacy of Dr. Ming Tea. Essentially, it seems as though the brand gave products to 35 individuals and had them report back on changes.
We consider it to be highly questionable from an ethical perspective for a brand to be making claims of clinical efficacy based on user self-reporting. It's an extremely weak standard of evidence in our opinion.
Interestingly, Dr. Ming Tea previously used the term "clinically proven" but appears to have since updated their claims after our article disputed their use of this term.
We recommend that consumers only consider clinical trials published in legitimate medical journals as proof that a product works. Brands make all sorts of marketing claims, but unless those claims are backed by legitimate medical inquiry we recommend giving them no consideration.
Doctor Shares Opinion on "Detox" Tea
Not only does Dr. Ming Tea describe their products as effective for weight loss, but the brand also describes both of their teas as "detox" teas.
One of the most popular YouTube videos explaining why "detox tea" claims are highly questionable and potentially unscientific comes from a channel called "Doctor Mike" and has over 1 million views at the time of updating this article.
We recommend that consumers considering Dr. Ming Tea check it out:
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.
