Leanbean is a fat burner supplement targeted to women. The brand claims that this product reduces cravings and calorie intake, and also boosts energy and causes weight loss.

But is there medical evidence for women and men requiring different weight loss strategies? Does Leanbean use safe ingredients?

In this article we’ll analyze every ingredient in Leanbean based on medical research to give our take on whether the supplement is likely to cause weight loss, and whether it's safe. We'll also compare Leanbean to another weight loss supplement.

Ingredient Review

Leanbean contains 12 different active ingredients, all of which we’ll review for potential effectiveness for weight loss.

We can’t find any evidence at all that Vitamin B6 supplementation or Vitamin B12 supplementation causes weight loss.

We generally recommend avoiding supplements with random blends of vitamins, because taking vitamins while already having healthy blood levels of those vitamins can push blood levels into unsafe ranges. This is unlikely for water-soluble vitamins like B-vitamins, but we still believe it's illogical to take random doses of vitamins without a documented deficiency.

Chromium is a mineral that may be effective for weight loss, but the amount in Leanbean seems to be significantly underdosed. A medical review of chromium for weight loss published in the Obesity Reviews journal analyzed 11 clinical trials on chromium and weight loss, and found that its supplementation did cause weight loss on average.

The lowest chromium dose used in any of the studies was 137 micrograms (mcg) per day, and many of the studies used a dose at or over 500 mcg. Leanbean contains 11.67 mcg, which is less than 10% of what seems to be the minimally-effective dose.

We haven’t come across any research on human subjects suggesting that potassium is effective for weight loss, but regardless it doesn’t matter much because the dose used in Leanbean is incredibly low.

Leanbean contains 3 milligrams (mg) of potassium. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), one apple contains 260 mg of potassium and one banana contains 450 mg. This means Leanbean provides 0.6% the potassium of one single banana.

Zinc is the final ingredient from the vitamin and mineral blend, at a dose of 3.67 mg. We identified two clinical trials showing zinc may help with weight loss, but the dosages used were 20 mg and 30 mg, respectively. This suggests the amount in Leanbean may be underdosed.

Glucomannan is the next-listed ingredient, and it’s a purified flour from the konjac plant. It’s the main active ingredient in the Lipozene weight loss supplement which we previously reviewed. 

A meta-study on glucomannan supplementation and weight loss analyzed 9 individual trials and found no statistically significant weight loss effect. We consider this to be an ineffective weight loss ingredient.

We could only locate one article suggesting choline is effective for reducing body weight, but subjects were taking a daily dose of 2 grams (g), which is nearly 100x higher than the dose in Leanbean.

Garcinia cambogia extract may also be underdosed in Leanbean. A medical review found that this ingredient was effective for short-term weight loss, but all of the analyzed studies included doses higher than 1 g. The dose in Leanbean is 33.33 mg, or about 3% of what appears to be the minimally-effective dose. We don’t recommend garcinia extract regardless due to toxicity concerns.

The final four ingredients (green coffee bean extract, turmeric, Piperine and acai berry extract) are included at such a low dose that we don't believe it's even worthwhile to analyze each individually.

As an example, Leanbean contains 16.67 mg of turmeric powder. This isn’t even a concentrated extract; just a raw powder which means it's the same type of turmeric found in the spice aisle at a grocery store.

While curcumin, the primary chemical compound in turmeric, may be effective for weight loss based on medical research, the effective curcumin dose was found to be 1,000 mg in the linked meta-study. And curcumin is just one compound in turmeric, while the entire turmeric dose in Leanbean is 17 mg.

One benefit of Leanbean is that the supplement contains no potentially harmful or toxic inactive ingredients like artificial coloring or titanium dioxide which many other supplements do contain.

Overall we consider Leanbean to be very poorly formulated. We cannot identify one single active ingredient in Leanbean which we consider effective for weight loss at the stated dose. The supplement contains a number of ingredients that we recommend consumers avoid, such as garcinia cambogia extract and added vitamins.

Do Men and Women Require Different Weight Loss Strategies?

Much of Leanbean's marketing suggests that men and women require unique weight loss strategies. 

As stated in the intro section, this product is marketed explicitly to women, and the brand's website describes the supplement as a "powerful supplement for women" and "tailored to women."

But we have not come across any convincing medical research suggesting that men and women require different weight loss strategies. Weight loss is a simple thermodynamic process: calories consumed versus calories burned. This does not change based on sex.

While men and women have differing hormone types and levels, that doesn't necessarily mean that they require different weight loss strategies, and we haven't seen any proof of such.

Leanbean links to a Scientific American article on their homepage which found that men suppress food cravings better than women. While this may be true, we're unsure how this relates to Leanbean at all. This research doesn't prove that men and women require different weight loss supplement 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).

Supergut Fiber Mix is our recommended fiber supplement, because it contains three different types of fiber powder and no questionable additive ingredients. Interested consumers can check out Supergut Fiber Mix at this link to the product page on the brand's official website, where it retails for under $2 per serving at a subscription rate.

MCT oil is quickly absorbed by the body and increases metabolic rate, which causes fat loss. A 2015 meta-study on MCT oil documented 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. There are no questionable additives. Interested consumers can check out Bulletproof MCT Oil at this link to the product page on the brand's official website, where it currently costs only $15.50 for over a month's worth of product.

Coffee is one of the few whole food ingredients associated with weight loss in clinical trials. A meta-analysis published in the Nutrients journal found that coffee intake was associated with reduced body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

VitaCup Organic Instant Coffee Sticks is our top coffee product for weight loss, due to its convenience. No preparation or machinery is needed. The sticks can be mixed into hot or cold water (or other beverages) and consumed. The only ingredient is organic instant coffee; no questionable additives.

Interested consumers can check out VitaCup Organic Instant Coffee Sticks at this link to the product page on the brand's official website, where they retail for $1 per serving at a subscription rate.

Leanbean Vs. PhenQ

Consumers are often curious about whether Leanbean or PhenQ (another weight loss supplement) is likely to be more effective for weight loss.

We published a PhenQ review article where we detailed how we could not identify any effective weight loss ingredients in that supplement. While we would not recommend either supplement, we consider Leanbean to be a healthier choice because it's free of the questionable additive ingredients in PhenQ such as artificial dye and a preservative.

Conclusion 

We don’t recommend Leanbean as we're unable to identify one single active ingredient we would consider likely to be effective for weight loss. This is an unfortunate conclusion in many of our weight loss supplement reviews.

While Leanbean markets specifically to women, we have not come across any medical research suggesting that weight loss strategies should be different based on sex.

We consider dietary fiber and MCT oil to be effective weight loss supplements, and should be especially effective in the context of a healthy diet and exercise regimen.

PhenQ, another weight loss supplement, has a worse formulation in our opinion than Leanbean due to its additive ingredients.