MenoSlim is a tea brand made by a company called VoomVaya. The brand claims their tea can help menopausal women reduce fat and bloating. They also claim their product “flushes toxins out.”
In this article we’ll review the ingredients in MenoSlim tea based on published medical research to determine if we find it likely to be effective at causing weight loss, or if we believe it’s a waste of money. We'll first explain whether menopausal weight gain products make sense.
Does Menopause Cause Weight Gain?
There’s a common theme in most supplements and wellness products targeted to menopausal women that weight gain associated with menopause can be easily corrected with a few herbal ingredients, but that doesn’t seem to be backed by any medical research.
Medical research does show that weight gain is associated with menopause, but it’s unclear whether that’s due to more sedentary behavior compared with earlier in life, or whether it’s directly caused by hormonal changes. As we discussed in our review of Estroven, another weight loss product targeted to menopausal women, there doesn’t appear to be much clinical evidence suggesting that weight loss strategies for menopausal women should differ from weight loss strategies for the general population.
Regardless of hormone status, individuals lose weight by burning more calories than they ingest. Since we haven't come across any medical research suggesting that specific herbs or ingredients are effective for weight loss in hormonal women but not in other demographic groups, we consider menopausal weight loss claims to be somewhat unscientific and a red flag of a brand that may focus on marketing more than good science.
MenoSlim Ingredient Review
All three of MenoSlim’s teas have the same active ingredients, and only the flavoring differs, so we’ll be reviewing the Acai Berry flavor but our comments stand for all of their teas.
Ginkgo leaf is the first ingredient, and this plant is typically used as a nootropic, which means it can enhance cognitive function short-term, much like caffeine. It’s not typically used for weight loss.
While we were able to locate a few animal studies suggesting a potential anti-obesity effect of ginkgo, such as this one, we can’t find a single human study proving ginkgo effective for weight loss, so we will consider this a likely ineffective ingredient.
Dandelion leaf is the second ingredient in this tea, and like ginkgo we cannot locate any human trials suggesting it's effective for weight loss, so we'll consider it ineffective.
The third active ingredient in MenoSlim tea is rooibos leaf, and we can’t identify any medical studies finding it effective for weight loss.
Licorice root is an effective ingredient for weight loss, however we consider it underdosed in MenoSlim tea. A clinical trial published in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation found that 3.5 grams (g) of licorice root daily for two months caused a significant decrease in body fat mass. It’s notable that this plant can increase blood pressure and should likely be avoided by patients with hypertension.
The average ingredient dose in MenoSlim is 0.29 g, or less than 10% of the licorice root dose found effective in the above-linked study.
Black cohosh root is the next-listed active ingredient in MenoSlim, and is a common inclusion in menopausal supplements and teas because it’s proven in medical studies to reduce symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, insomnia and loss of libido. However, we can't locate any human trials proving black cohosh causes weight loss.
Cardamom seed pods were shown in a clinical trial to prevent obesity in rats. However, the amount of cardamom consumed as a percentage of diet in this trial was likely far more than what humans would consume from a tea relative to their overall caloric intake.
The final active ingredient in MenoSlim is green tea. As we discussed in our recent Exipure reviews article, which is another brand that uses green tea for weight loss effect, there is medical evidence that green tea can cause moderate weight loss in humans.
MenoSlim also contains natural flavor as an inactive ingredient. We recommend avoiding supplements containing natural flavoring agents, as this is a broad term that can include solvents and preservatives, according to medical data. Without knowing exactly which chemical compounds are used to create the flavoring, we cannot ascertain their safety.
Overall this is a decent formulation and one we would consider potentially effective for weight loss given the green tea and licorice root. That being said, we don't recommend MenoSlim tea because of the inclusion of natural flavor, and because we're unable to identify any ingredients that are effectively dosed.
MenoSlim Tea Real User Review
A YouTube channel called "Savvy's Second Act" published an unsponsored review of MenoSlim. The creator explains why she doesn't recommend the tea:
Missing Medical References
At the time of initially writing this article, MenoSlim made many health claims on their website with missing citations.
As an example, MenoSlim claimed that ginkgo “helps increase blood flow to the ovaries so they can work more efficiently.” This health claim was associated with a citation numbered 32, which should correspond to a medical study numbered 32 in the References section of their site.
However there was no citation numbered 32 in the References section of their site, and there were no citations beyond the number of 14. This means that any of the health claims on their site with a citation numbered 15 or greater were totally uncited.
MenoSlim appears to have removed the References section entirely since we published our article highlighting this issue. Now the brand simply makes unproven health claims such as "Helps reduce bloating" with no citations at all.
We strongly recommend that consumers avoid products making health claims without proof.
Why We Don’t Recommend Tea Blends for Health Issues
Tea is great for general health maintenance. There are many types of tea, each containing a unique phytochemical profile, and many teas have proven health benefits.
However, we typically don’t recommend tea blends (containing many different herbal ingredients) for treating specific health conditions or causing weight loss, because it’s impossible to tell if any ingredient in the blend is effectively dosed.
Most tea blends (like MenoSlim) only list total dose, not individual ingredient dose, which makes it impossible to determine if an ingredient is effective.
Additionally, most medical research uses extracts of plant compounds, which is a more concentrated and standardized format than tea. The vast majority of the medical research on ginkgo biloba, for example, uses a standardized extract that contains 24% flavone glycosides and 6% terpene lactones. These are the active chemical constituents of ginkgo thought to provide most of the health effects. When taking ginkgo tea, there is no way to determine how concentrated these compounds are.
MenoSlim Tea Amazon Reviews
MenoSlim Tea is sold on Amazon, which we consider to be a more reliable source of reviews than a brand's website. The tea has an average review rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, and has a "B" grade on FakeSpot, which is a software tool that detects potentially fraudulent Amazon reviews.
This is a good sign that the brand hasn't faked any of their reviews, because many products we review on Illuminate Health get FakeSpot grades of "D" or "F."
The top positive review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named "Rauly Baggett" who claims that MenoSlim tea caused significant weight loss:
"I started drinking Voomvaya’s Menoslim Teas a year ago. After a few months, I had lost 30 lbs, had more energy than I have had in years, and guess what? No More Morning Fog!"
The top negative review from a verified purchaser is written by an anonymous user who claims the product caused side effects:
"I actually don't know if this product does what it says. While drinking my tea I started sweating, then got the worst heartburn I have ever had in my life. I threw it all up and then felt fine. Something in this tea did agree with my body. I wanted to contact the seller to ask about my experience but can't figure out how to."
Does MenoSlim Tea Cause Side Effects?
Based on the ingredients, we do not believe that MenoSlim tea is likely to cause side effects. All of the herbal ingredients have been well studied, and we consider them all to be safe. The overall dose is within a reasonable range.
Certainly any consumer can have an allergic reaction to an ingredient, so it's important to review the ingredient label before trying the product, but we don't find any MenoSlim ingredients to be likely to cause a negative experience.
Our Weight Loss Supplement Recommendations
There exist several weight loss supplements with significant clinical backing in terms of both efficacy and safety.
We recommend dietary fiber as a safe and effective weight loss supplement, especially when combined with caloric restriction.
A landmark medical study found that moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline) combined with dietary fiber intake (a minimum of 20 grams per day) caused an average weight loss of 16.03 pounds over 6 months. That’s a pace of 32 pounds per year of weight loss in overweight individuals 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 buy SuperGut fiber at this link.
We recommend using two fiber mixes per day, which provides 16 grams (g) of total fiber. Diet should provide the remaining fiber necessary to meet the 20 g minimum threshold.
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.
