Floraspring is a probiotic supplement made by a brand called Revival Labs. The brand describes this product as a "probiotic weight loss supplement," which is unique because we haven't come across much medical research suggesting that probiotics are effective for weight loss.
In this article we’ll review the ingredients in Floraspring based on published medical research to give our take on whether this supplement is likely to cause weight loss, or whether it's a waste of money.
Ingredient Review
Floraspring's ingredients are listed in a proprietary (prop) blend with a total dose of 25 billion colony-forming units (CFU), which appears to be an effective overall probiotic dose for general health maintenance. A medical review of probiotic dosage published in the American Family Physician Journal found that a minimum daily dose of 10 billion CFU was effective.
The probiotic species used in Floraspring appear to be safe and well-studied, but we can't identify much medical research associating these ingredients with weight loss. The first ingredient, lactobacillus acidophilus, is a strange choice for a weight loss formulation.
While this ingredient is associated with beneficial health outcomes overall, it’s also associated with "significant weight gain" based on a medical review of 17 clinical trials on lactobacillus acidophilus supplements. Researchers found that this species of probiotic increased weight on average when supplemented, potentially due to enhanced nutrient absorption in the gut.
Lactobacillus fermentum is the second-listed ingredient, and we can’t find any medical data suggesting this species is effective for weight loss. Given that it’s a lactobacillus probiotic, and based on the above-linked review, we will assume that it’s ineffective.
One specific strain of bifidobacterium breve, called bifidobacterium breve B-3, does appear to have anti-obesity effects based on a clinical trial published in the Bioscience of Microbiota, Food and Health journal. The researchers found that overweight subjects taking 50 billion CFU/day of this probiotic lost a statistically significant amount of weight compared with a control group.
However, we can’t take this data to suggest that this ingredient is effective in Floraspring, because Floraspring only lists the species and not the strain (we'll explain this in more detail later). We don’t know if the bifidobacterium breve included in this supplement is the B-3 strain or a different strain.
The amount of bifidobacterium breve in Floraspring may be underdosed for weight loss benefit, because Floraspring has 14 ingredients and a total dose of 25 billion CFU (which is an average dose of 1.79 billion CFU per ingredient), while the dose used for that one single strain in the medical study was 50 billion.
We cannot identify any medical research suggesting that any of the other species of probiotics in this supplement are effective for weight loss, so we will consider them all to be ineffective.
We would not recommend this supplement for weight loss, as we can't identify any effective ingredients proven to cause weight loss in medical research. This probiotic may be fine for general health maintenance, given that it has no harmful or toxic additive ingredients.
Questionable Health Claims
We take issue with many of the health claims made on Floraspring's website.
The product page has a header stating that "Research shows Floraspring helps with" a number of health-related outcomes such as weight loss, sugar cravings, gas & bloating and more. There is no citations to any medical research in this section. It's just a series of health claims without proof.
Floraspring has a page on their site titled "Does Floraspring Lead to Weight Loss?" where the brand claims their product causes weight loss.
The brand suggests that lactobacillus acidophilus, the probiotic we showed in the previous section to be associated with weight gain, is associated with weight loss. They cite a medical study which clearly states "the beneficial effects [of lactobacillus acidophilus] are strain dependent." Floraspring does not publish the strain used, so it's misleading in our opinion to cite this study as proof of efficacy.
We strongly urge consumers to avoid supplements from brands making bold health claims without significant medical evidence backing these claims.
Poor Probiotic Labeling
Floraspring refers to the ingredients in their formulation as “strains,” which is scientifically incorrect and suggests a lack of understanding of probiotics.
Probiotics have a genus, species, subspecies, and strain in descending order as outlined in this great probiotic overview resource published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
What is described on Floraspring’s label are probiotic species, not strains. Lactobacillus acidophilus, for example, is a species. Lactobacillus acidophilus CIRM-BIA 442 would be an example of a probiotic strain. It’s a more specific designation, and different strains within the same species can have different health effects.
The fact that a probiotic company has mislabeled basic probiotic taxonomy suggests to us that their formulators are incompetent, and we would recommend avoiding this company based on this fact alone.
We generally consider it to be a sign of a low-quality probiotic brand when only the species is listed. We recommend purchasing probiotics where the strain is listed for each ingredient, as this is important information.
One of the few probiotic brands that publishes the strain of every probiotic ingredient is Seed, and we published a Seed probiotic review for readers who are interested.
Questionable Amazon Reviews
Floraspring has an average rating on Amazon of 4.2/5 at the time of updating this article, which is already unimpressive, but what concerns us more is the product's "D" grade from Fakespot.
Fakespot is a software tool that detects potentially fraudulent Amazon reviews and issues an adjusted rating. In the case of Floraspring, the tool states there are "insufficient reliable reviews" to issue a rating, which is something we've never seen before (and we've run many products through Fakespot in the course of our review process).
Fakespot also gives a company review grade of "F". We consider both of these data points to be red flags about Floraspring.
Our Weight Loss Supplement Recommendations
There are several dietary supplements we consider safe and effective for promoting weight loss. The first is dietary fiber, which is actually a food product rather than a supplement, but it has impressive research backing.
An extensive medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition analyzed data from 345 patients and found that fiber intake directly predicts weight loss. The reason fiber may be so successful for weight loss is because it fills up the stomach with zero-calorie, indigestible plant matter. This makes individuals feel full faster, and end up consuming fewer calories overall.
The reason it's much easier to eat 2,000 calories of a highly processed meal like pizza rather than 2,000 calories of rice and beans is because the latter meal is high in fiber.
We recommend SuperGut Fiber Mix for supplemental dietary fiber. It contains a clean and effective formulation: a blend of three different types of dietary fiber and zero additive ingredients. It can be mixed into liquids or foods and is unflavored. Interested consumers can buy SuperGut fiber at this link.
Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil is another dietary supplement with impressive early research backing for weight loss.
MCT oil is quickly absorbed by the body and increases metabolic rate, which causes fat loss. A meta-study on MCT oil and weight loss analyzed data from 13 individual clinical trials on the topic. The average trial duration was 10 weeks, and the researchers documented an average weight loss of 0.51 kilograms (kg), which equates to 1.12 pounds (lbs). This equates to a potential annualized weight loss of 5.84 pounds with a simple dietary modification.
We recommend Bulletproof MCT Oil as our top MCT oil product, because it contains zero questionable additive ingredients. The only ingredient is MCT oil derived from coconuts. Interested consumers can buy Bulletproof MCT Oil at this link.
