Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice, and is just the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that patients follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to weight loss medication.
Found is a weight loss brand that describes itself as “the largest weight loss clinic in the United States.” The Found Weight Loss Program operates through a smartphone app, connecting patients with medical providers that can prescribe weight loss medication and recommend healthy lifestyle changes that can promote weight loss.
But is Found more effective than just taking weight loss medication? What medications does Found prescribe? How is it different from other weight loss programs? And how do real users describe the program?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze the Found program and the medications provided to give our take on whether or not Found is likely to be successful for weight loss. We’ll also document our disagreements with some health claims made on the Found website, and share real, unsponsored user reviews of Found.
Is Found Proven to Work?
At the time of writing this article, Found does not appear to have funded any clinical trials proving that their program is effective for weight loss.
Some of the medications prescribed by Found (which we’ll review later) are shown in clinical trials to cause weight loss, but the program itself is not.
Given that the brand raised over $100 million from investors, we hope that they fund a clinical trial testing the weight loss effects of their program. At this point we can’t find any information suggesting that Found is more effective than simply taking weight loss medication (prescribed by a doctor) and making healthy lifestyle choices like eating whole foods on your own.
What Weight Loss Meds Does Found Prescribe?
Found claims on an FAQ page of their website that the brand offers 13 prescription weight loss medications. We have no issue with that claim, given that there are a number of FDA-approved weight loss medications.
What concerns us is that neither of the medications highlighted by the brand above are approved by the FDA for weight loss.
Bupropion is a generic antidepressant medication, and as we documented in our bupropion reviews article, this drug is associated with weight loss in clinical trials but is not FDA-approved for weight loss alone.
Metformin is an antidiabetic medication that was shown in a 2020 medical review to cause weight loss even in non-diabetic patients, however this drug is not currently approved by the FDA to treat weight loss alone.
Given that there are a number of prescription weight loss drugs that are approved by the FDA, we don’t understand why Found would highlight these two medications. As the FDA details on their website, using a drug “off-label” (like using a diabetes drug to treat weight loss) means the FDA has not determined that the drug is safe and effective for that use.
We hope that Found clarifies whether or not they prescribe drugs off-label for weight loss.
Questionable Health Claims on Found Website
Found makes a number of health claims on their website that we consider questionable from a scientific perspective.
The brand claims that “up to 70% of your weight can be determined by your genes.” While it’s true that there are genetic markers indicating increased risk of obesity, suggesting that obesity is caused by genetics seems illogical.
Medical data shows that adult obesity rates in the U.S. increased from 13% 1960 to 36% in 2009. Did the human genome change in those 49 years or did diet and lifestyle factors change? It seems obvious to us that the answer is the latter.
Found then suggests on the same page that “anywhere from 25-80% of your weight could be determined by your genetics.” This seems to contradict the previous claim, and is again entirely uncited. The brand provides no proof of either claim.
Found then claims that their program “identifies the role your genetics play and then provides you with tools – like prescription medication – to address your weight at the cellular level.”
This statement makes absolutely no sense to us, because we have not come across any medical evidence that targeted prescription medication treatment based on genetic data is effective. Also, does this mean that Found requires patient data from a genotyping service like 23andMe? How is the brand accessing the genetic data that they claim allows them to make more effective prescription recommendations?
We recommend that consumers entirely disregard claims of efficacy made by health brands that provide no proof of such claims.
Real, Unsponsored Found Weight Loss User Review
A TikTok user named Loni has a Found review that documents her experience after several weeks of using the program. She explains whether Found has caused weight loss and shares her negative experience with the health coach:
@sunflower333mo #fatdoc #43by23 #foundweightlossreview ♬ original sound - Loni Leforce
How Much Does Found Cost?
Found does not have a clear and transparent pricing structure on their website. Users have to navigate to a specific FAQ page, highlighted above, that prompts users to “take the quiz” to determine their pricing structure.
The “quiz” Found refers to asks for all sorts of sensitive personal data such as name, gender, date of birth and more. We do not believe that users should have to input this much information to find out the price of a health service, and we recommend that users avoid this quiz and avoid giving Found any of your data.
Which Prescription Weight Loss Drug Is Most Effective?
An unsponsored YouTube video published by a doctor named Christy Risinger reviews clinical data to find out which medication is proven to cause the greatest weight loss. This is the type of transparency we find to be much more useful than the Found website:
Can OTC Supplements Cause Weight Loss?
There are several over-the-counter (OTC), food-based supplements that have been shown in clinical studies to cause weight loss.
Dietary fiber was shown in a medical review to cause an average weight loss of 16.03 pounds over 6 months when combined with moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline). That’s an annualized rate of 32 pounds per year of weight loss simply by adding fiber to a moderately-restricted-calorie diet.
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 check out SuperGut fiber at this link to its product page on the official brand’s website.
Two daily fiber mixes provide 16 grams (g) of supplemental fiber. The greatest weight loss found in the above-linked study was from a diet with a minimum of 20 g total fiber intake, so this supplement makes that easily achievable (only 4 g additional required from diet, but more may be better).
MCT oil is derived from coconuts 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 one spoonful per day.
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 check out Bulletproof MCT Oil at this link to its product page on the official brand’s website.
The effective dose range of MCT oil for weight loss (based on the above-linked 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.
We are not suggesting that either of these supplements are as effective as Found or any FDA-approved prescription medication for weight loss, or that they should be used to treat any specific medical condition. Rather, we’re sharing research that individuals may benefit from speaking with their doctor about.
