Drink2Shrink (sometimes referred to as “Drink to Shrink” or "Drink 2 Shrink") is a fruit-based weight loss drink. The brand's website suggests that the drink can not only cause weight loss, but is also used to "detoxify the whole body."
But does Drink2Shrink contain research-backed ingredients to support weight loss? Does it contain any unhealthy additive ingredients? Who's the lead formulator and do they have any relevant credentials? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of Drink2Shrink?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Drink2Shrink based on clinical studies, to give our take on whether or not this drink is likely to be effective for weight loss.
We'll share our concerns about a potential discrepancy between the ingredient list and the product colors, share our concerns about active ingredient dosage, and share our concerns about the brand's founder.
We'll also feature unsponsored Drink2Shrink customer reviews including before-and-after images.
UPDATE: At the time of updating this article, Drink2Shrink may be off the market.
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Drink2Shrink are shown above.
There are a variety of different weight loss products on the market branded "Drink2Shrink," and it's unclear which is the official manufacturer. At the time of initially publishing this article, this website (where the ingredients above were sourced from) seemed to be the official manufacturer, but now the website is down, signaling the company may have been shut down.
Persimmon was shown to cause weight loss in a 2020 clinical trial, but an extracted form of the plant was used, which is much more potent than the raw plant material included in Drink2Shrink.
Holy thistle is more commonly referred to as "milk thistle," and is typically used to support liver health. We can't find any clinical evidence that holy thistle causes weight loss.
Ginger is clinically shown to cause weight loss, as we documented in our Lipozene review article, on another weight loss product containing this ingredient.
A medical review published in the Phytotherapy Research journal described the anti-obesity effect of ginger to be due in part to its ability to suppress appetite.
Malva leaf, marshmallow leaf, blessed thistle, papaya, chamomile and myrrh are the remaining active ingredients, and we can't find any clinical evidence that these ingredients support weight loss.
Overall, we consider Drink2Shrink potentially effective for weight loss given the inclusion of ginger, which has research backing for weight loss.
However, we consider this to be an unimpressive formulation, given that only one of the nine active ingredients is effective for weight loss based on our review of existing clinical studies.
The good news about Drink2Shrink is that all of these active ingredients are whole food ingredients, but in the next section we'll share our concerns about whether or not the ingredient list is accurate.
Questionable Product Coloring
Drink2Shrink claims to have no additive ingredients, so we don't understand how the product comes in so many different colors (product colors shown above).
If the same botanical tea ingredients are included in all Drink2Shrink formulations, it doesn't logically follow that the drink could come in a wide variety of bright, "artificial" looking colors.
This suggests that the company many be adding coloring agents to the drinks without disclosing this on their website.
We urge Drink2Shrink to share information on what coloring agents are used, if any, because the herbal ingredients listed on the brand's website are unlikely to create these bright and distinct color variations.
We consider this to be a significant red flag about the legitimacy of this business.
Real People Try Drink2Shrink
A TikTok creator named "Drink2ShrinkwithTiye" shares before-and-after images and claims that the drink caused 30 pounds of weight loss:
@drink2shrinkwithtiye change your life with Drink2Shrink!
♬ Feeling Myself - Nicki Minaj
A TikTok creator named "sybilbenard" shares before-and-after images and claims to have lost weight due to Drink2Shrink:
@sybilbenard Reply to @hyclas82 100s here are a few! results vary & there r so many other benefits! Order today. the best #detox #juice #drink2shrink #kpop #fyp ♬ original sound - SybilB
Who's Behind Drink2Shrink?
The Drink2Shrink website linked in the Ingredient Analysis section of this article lists a woman named Sanya as the founder.
She claims that after successfully losing weight she wanted to help coach other people to do the same. There is no mention of relevant medical or scientific qualifications to formulate a weight loss supplement.
Wanting to help others is a nice sentiment, but we generally recommend avoiding health brands without public disclosures of team members with relevant research or educational backgrounds.
It's challenging to formulate an effective and safe health product, and without a background reviewing clinical research, we don't understand what the basis for such a formulation process would be.
We find it unlikely that individuals with no medical background would bother to extensively educate themselves and review existing clinical studies on safety and efficacy of functional ingredients, which is why the majority of health products we've reviewed on Illuminate Health with no medical experts working with the brand have been poorly formulated.
Since the dietary supplement market in the US requires no pre-approval, taking health products created by people without relevant scientific credentials may be a health risk.
We highlighted this same concern in our Soul Drops review: a founder who probably meant well, but who was selling products with very questionable formulations to unfortunate customers.
Failure to Publish Doses
There is no published dose for any of the active ingredients in Drink2Shrink, on the brand's official website, at the time of initially publishing this article.
Since this is a brand making specific health claims about weight loss, we find this to be unacceptable.
Consumers need to be able to access dosage information to determine whether or not an ingredient is safe and effective.
If Drink2Shrink published the dose of ginger in their product, we could compare that dose to the ginger dose used in medical studies cited in the Ingredient Analysis section, and establish whether or not this ingredient is likely to be effective.
We recommend avoiding any health brand making specific claims about weight loss without providing dosage information for its active ingredients.
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).
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.
MCT oil was shown in a meta-study to cause 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. and it currently costs only $15.50 for over a month's worth of product.
Ginger intake "significantly decreased body weight" according to a 2019 meta-study on ginger and weight loss that analyzed data from 14 clinical trials.
Pique La Ginger is our top ginger product, because it's an organic tea in convenient crystallized form, and all that's needed is to pour the powder into a glass and add hot water.
All three of the products mentioned in this section are entirely free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy or unsafe.
Pros and Cons of Drink2Shrink
Here are the pros and cons of Drink2Shrink in our opinion:
Pros:
- Botanical active ingredients
- No unhealthy ingredients in ingredient list
- Ginger can support weight loss
Cons:
- Company may have shut down
- Unclear official manufacturer
- Unclear how product comes in different colors but has the exact same ingredient list
- Founder doesn't appear to have medical credentials
- Doesn't appear to be clinically studied
- Challenging to find unsponsored user reviews
- Dosing information not clearly published on brand's website
