Truvy is a wellness brand that sells a variety of dietary supplements, and their specialty is weight loss products. The brand claims that their products are “based off of real science, not diet fads," which is a confusing thing for a supplement company to say, given that dietary supplements have negligible calories and are not used as a replacement for diet.
In this article we’ll review the ingredients in Truvy Boost based on published medical research to provide our determination on whether this product is likely to be effective and safe for weight loss.
There are two separate Truvy products called "Boost" which is confusing and which we'll review separately. There is a "Truvy Boost" product composed of two pills called Tru and Vy which we'll review first, and there is also a "Truvy Boost Drink Mix" which we'll review after.
We'll also summarize information about a Warning Letter Truvy received from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Truvy Boost Ingredient Review
The Supplement Facts label above is for Tru, which is one of the two pills in Truvy Boost.
The majority of the active ingredients in Tru are minerals like copper and magnesium. We cannot identify any medical research suggesting these ingredients are effective for weight loss at the dosages used.
We recommend avoiding supplements with added vitamins and minerals unless otherwise recommended by a doctor, because taking supplemental minerals can push blood levels of those minerals to an unsafe range in consumers with normal levels of those minerals to begin with. An individual taking a copper supplement when they already have normal blood levels of copper seems illogical in our opinion.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) recently reported on a supplement brand that had to recall several products due to toxicity caused by over-fortification with vitamins and minerals, which illustrates our point.
The remaining active ingredients are listed in a proprietary (prop) blend with a total dose of 660 milligrams (mg).
Green coffee bean extract is the first-listed ingredient in the prop blend, and there is medical research backing its weight loss effects. A medical review published in the Phytomedicine journal analyzed data from 13 clinical trials on green coffee bean extract and obesity.
The researchers found that green coffee bean extract supplementation had a dose-dependent effect on weight loss, meaning the more consumed (to a limit), the greater the weight loss. The average ingredient dose in this prop blend is 165 mg, while most of the doses used in the medical trials were over 200 mg.
We will consider this a potentially effective ingredient based on the likely dose in Truvy.
Raspberry ketone may be effective for weight loss, but we cannot locate a human trial proving so. An animal study found that this ingredient caused weight loss, but the dosages used (0.5% to 2% of diet by weight) was much higher than would be attained from Tru. We'll consider this an ineffective weight loss ingredient given the lack of human trials and dosage issues.
Cinnamon bark extract is included, but the specific type of cinnamon is unlisted. We recommend that consumers avoid supplements containing cinnamon where the type is unlisted, because a popular cinnamon type called Cassia cinnamon has high levels of a toxin called coumarin, as documented in medical research.
The final active ingredient in Tru is alpha lipoic acid which is an antioxidant that's produced by the body, but can also be attained through diet. This is an effective weight loss ingredient but may be underdosed in Tru. A meta-study found the therapeutic dosing range of alpha lipoic acid for obesity to be 300 mg to 1,800 mg per day, while the average ingredient dose in Tru is only 165 mg.
Tru also contains three additive ingredients we recommend consumers avoid entirely.
Artificial food coloring agents Blue #1 and Red #3 may be harmful to human health. A medical review of the toxicology of food dyes stated that “Red 3 causes cancer in animals” and Blue 1 causes “hypersensitivity reactions.”
Titanium dioxide has been banned for use as a food additive in the European Union (E.U.) due to toxicity concerns.
Overall we consider this supplement to be potentially effective for weight loss due to the green coffee bean extract, but likely underdosed. We would not recommend this supplement due to the mineral and inactive ingredient additives.
Truvy’s weight loss supplement Vy, the second supplement in Truvy Boost, doesn’t have a much better formulation in our opinion. The Supplement Facts label is found below.
Like Tru, the Vy supplement consists primarily of a prop blend, so consumers cannot access individual ingredient doses. Prop blends only list the total blend dose, which makes it impossible for consumers (or researchers like us) to determine if individual ingredients are effectively dosed. We generally recommend avoiding supplements containing prop blends.
The first-listed active ingredient in Vy is theobromine gallate, and we cannot identify any medical studies finding this compound to cause weight loss, nor does Truvy cite any on their product page, so we'll consider this ingredient ineffective.
Vy contains two separate inclusions of green tea extract which is an effective weight loss ingredient but one we recommend avoiding, especially when the dose is unpublished. As reported by Health Canada, there appears to be a small risk of liver injury when taking supplements containing green tea extract.
There are a number of other active ingredients, but without dosages listed it becomes somewhat useless to assess.
Like Tru, Vy contains artificial food dyes, and this formulation doesn’t even list which specific ones. It lists “Red and Yellow,” which is an unscientific manner of listing food dyes. The FDA assigns numbers to approved food dyes (such as the Blue #1 listed in Tru). We have never seen artificial dyes listed in this manner.
Titanium dioxide and a vitamin and mineral are included as well; all ingredients we recommend avoiding.
Overall we would consider this supplement potentially effective for weight loss, but we would recommend avoiding it due to the inclusion of green tea extract, artificial dye, added vitamin and mineral, and titanium dioxide.
Truvy Boost Drink Mix Review
Truvy sells a drink mix which is a powder formulation with the same "Truvy Boost" name.
This product has a different formulation than Truvy Boost pills. At the time of updating this article, Truvy does not list the ingredients of Truvy Boost Drink Mix on its product page, which we find to be entirely unacceptable and potentially unsafe.
Consumers need to be able to access ingredient information not only to determine efficacy, but because a consumer may have an allergy to one or more ingredients.
We urge Truvy to publish the ingredients for this product on their website, and we strongly recommend that consumers avoid this product until the brand has done so.
Truvy FDA Warning Letter
In 2017, Truvy (which was previously named TruVision Health LLC and appears to have rebranded) received a Warning Letter from the FDA detailing "serious violations" of Good Manufacturing Practice.
The letter details the following: "the products have been prepared, packed, or held under conditions that do not meet CGMP requirements for dietary supplements."
The agency also found that Truvy was making claims of efficacy on their website that were not approved.
Further, the FDA Warning Letter states that several Truvy supplements were misbranded and that the serving size information was incorrect.
This is the most extensive FDA Warning Letter we've ever reviewed on Illuminate Health, and we recommend avoiding Truvy entirely in light of this information. It's uncommon for a supplement company to receive FDA warnings that reveal so many issues.
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.
These two supplements cost a combined $64.50, while Truvy Boost costs $111.25 for a one-time purchase.
Truvy Real User Reviews
Truvy Boost is sold on Amazon which we consider to be a more objective resource for user reviews than a manufacturer's website. At the time of updating this article, the average review score of Truvy Boost on Amazon is 3.5/5 stars which is relatively unimpressive.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser is from a user named "Lisa" whose review states the following and is not particularly useful:
"Works like before"
The top negative review from a verified purchaser is from a user named "Eva" who claims the product caused unwanted side effects:
"I got stomach pain since I started this medication...Hurt my stomach"
Horrible Website
The Truvy website is the worst website of any of the 300+ supplement and pharmaceutical brands we’ve reviewed. It crashed several times during our review, and many of their pages take 10+ seconds to load. Using their site is a frustrating experience that we would recommend avoiding.
Truvy has a strange URL structure that’s bad for user experience and makes site navigation frustrating. There’s a “www” after the brand name (truvy.com/www/) which we’ve never encountered before. We’re unsure if the brand is trying to signal “world wide web," which goes before the root domain rather than after.
The customer reviews section of their Better Business Bureau (BBB) page signals that we’re not the only ones experiencing issues with their website and service. Many customers are complaining that the brand failed to offer a cancellation option, failed to properly ship products that were purchased, and caused concerning side effects.
Nearly all of the reviews at the time of originally writing this article were 1-star reviews, but many 5-star reviews were published in the span of one week, with generic comments like "I absolutely love this company!!! Not only have I gotten off of several meds, I've lost weight, and I am able to work from ANY WHERE with my babies!!!!"
We find the timing and nature of this sequence of positive reviews to be highly questionable.
