Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic is a weight loss supplement manufactured by a brand called Vitalina. There are a large number of different supplements sold under the "Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic" trade name with different formulations.
But which Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic is the official one? Does this supplement contain research-backed ingredients for weight loss? Does it contain any potentially unhealthy ingredients? And is it likely to cause side effects?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic based on clinical studies to give our take on whether or not this supplement is likely to be effective for weight loss, and whether or not it's healthy.
We'll share our concerns about some companies selling Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic, feature unsponsored customer reviews, and provide an update on the supplement's original manufacturer.
We'll also discuss the potential for side effects.
UPDATE: At the time of updating this article, Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic may be off the market.
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in the Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic sold by Vitalina are shown above.
This ingredient list was sourced from the product's Amazon listing, which has since been taken down, and it's notable that the dose of each active ingredient was not disclosed, which is a consumer safety issue.
All three of the active ingredients in this formulation are ketone salts.
Magnesium beta-hydroxybutyrate, calcium beta-hydroxybutyrate and sodium beta-hydroxybutyrate are thought to promote ketosis, but we haven't come across any clinical evidence that these ketone salts cause weight loss.
A clinical trial published in the Frontiers in Nutrition journal found that supplementation of ketone salts, in combination with a ketogenic (keto) diet, did not cause additional weight loss.
Weight loss supplements are often promoted as "keto," but as we documented in our K3 Spark Mineral reviews article on another keto weight loss supplement, we haven't come across any clinical evidence that following a keto diet causes weight loss.
The good news is that the inactive ingredients in this formulation should be safe and non-toxic.
Overall, we do not consider Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic likely to cause weight loss, and consider this to be one of the worst weight loss formulations that we've reviewed to date on Illuminate Health.
Does it Cause Side Effects?
Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic doesn't appear to have been studied in any clinical trials, which makes it challenging to determine the potential risk of side effects.
However, we can make an educated guess based on its ingredients.
Exogenous ketones do cause side effects in some individuals.
A 2018 clinical trial on ketone salt supplementation in healthy adult participants caused 1 of the 6 participants to drop out due to severe vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain.
This was a small-scale trial, but similar reports have been documented in other studies that we surveyed while researching this article.
The risk of side effects may be higher in Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic than other ketone salt formulations because the ingredient doses in this supplement are not published.
We strongly advise consumers to speak with their doctor prior to using this supplement.
Real People Try Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic
A TikTok creator named Sheeda Brenee has a video on Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic. In the comments she suggests the product caused digestive distress and was not effective for weight loss:
@tastebudmagicllc #okinawaflatbellytonic day 2 #GodzillaVsKongRoar #weightloss #cokebottlebodyloading ♬ original sound - Sheeda Brenee
A TikTok creator and doctor named Tammy Mayo claims to have lost 4.5 pounds using Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic:
@doctortammymayo8 #drtammymayotipoftheday #drtammymayo #weightloss #okinawaflatbelly ♬ original sound - Tammy Mayo, M.D.
The Risks of Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic
As we referenced in the intro to this article, it appears that the original manufacturer of Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic (Vitalina) went out of business since we initially published this article.
According to OpenCorporates, Vitalina LLC was shut down in Q4 of 2022.
There are still a number of supplement retailers selling products branded as "Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic" on Amazon and other marketplaces, as shown below:
We recommend that consumers be extremely wary when considering supplements sold under a failed company's trade name. It's a sign of a low-quality manufacturer in our opinion.
In our nearly 1,000 Illuminate Health reviews, we have never come across a supplement trying to capitalize off another company's trade name that we considered to be well-formulated and likely effective.
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).
MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top fiber pick because it's certified organic, provides 7 g of fiber per serving and costs under $1.85 per serving at the time of updating this article.
MCT oil was shown in a meta-study to cause 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.
Performance Lab MCT Oil is our top MCT oil pick because it's certified organic.
Ginger intake "significantly decreased body weight" according to a 2019 meta-study on ginger and weight loss that analyzed data from 14 clinical trials.
Pique La Ginger is our top ginger product, because it's an organic tea in convenient crystallized form, and all that's needed is to pour the powder into a glass and add hot water.
All three of the products mentioned in this section are entirely free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Pros and Cons of Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic
Here are the pros and cons of Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic in our opinion:
Pros:
- Safe inactive ingredients
- A doctor claims to have lost weight using it
Cons:
- Doesn't appear clinically tested
- Original manufacturer appears to have shut down
- We can't find any evidence that this will cause weight loss
- Active ingredients may cause serious side effects
- Challenging to find unsponsored customer reviews
- Challenging to determine official manufacturer at this point
- Supplements currently sold as "Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic" seem low-quality