The mechanism
Five steps, and the fifth is where it stops being checkable
Each step is what the product is claimed to do, beside what our sources say about the ingredient doing it.
The claim is a claim about a process
The four support lines say the product supports metabolism and appetite, supports craving control and satiety, promotes energy production from fat and helps support healthy weight management. Read them carefully and none of them names a condition, a quantity or a length of time.
That is what a structure or function claim is, and FDA puts the burden on the firm: “If a manufacturer or distributor makes a structure/function claim ... the firm must have substantiation that the claim is truthful and not misleading.” The substantiation sits with a manufacturer this artwork does not name.
Step one: caffeine, the ingredient with numbers attached
Caffeine anhydrous is dried, concentrated caffeine, and it is the only name on this label that both regulators quantify. NIH is careful about the size of the effect: “Weight-loss dietary supplements with caffeine might help you lose a little weight or gain less weight over time.”
FDA is careful about the ceiling: “400 milligrams a day - that's about two to three 12-fluid-ounce cups of coffee - as an amount not generally associated with negative effects”. And at the other end: “The FDA estimates toxic effects, like seizures, can be observed with rapid consumption of around 1,200 milligrams of caffeine”. It also warns that “Pure and highly concentrated caffeine products can have serious health consequences, including death.”
Every one of those numbers is useful, and none can be used here, because the label prints no caffeine figure at all.
Step two: two more extracts, and both carry caffeine too
Green coffee bean extract is an extract of unroasted coffee beans. NIH: “Green coffee bean extract might help you lose a small amount of weight.” And on safety: “Green coffee bean extract seems to be safe (at up to 200 mg a day for 12 weeks).” Green tea extract is a concentrated extract of green tea leaf. NIH: “Green tea might help you lose a small amount of weight.”
NCCIH describes the mechanism no more strongly than that: “The catechins and caffeine in green tea and its extracts may have a modest effect on body weight.” It also records the plain fact that “No safety concerns have been reported for green tea consumed as a beverage by adults. However, green tea does contain caffeine.”
So three of the five bring caffeine into the capsule, and the total is the number a reader would most want. It is not published.
Step three: appetite, the rind and the raspberry compound
Garcinia extract is fruit rind containing hydroxycitric acid. NCCIH describes it plainly: “The fruit rind contains a chemical called hydroxycitric acid (HCA), which has been studied for its effect on appetite.” That is the appetite half of the support lines, and where our sources part company. NIH: “Garcinia cambogia has little to no effect on weight loss.” NCCIH: “It's unclear whether garcinia cambogia products help with weight loss. Some evidence suggests a modest effect, while other evidence shows no effect.”
Raspberry ketone is the shortest entry in the fact sheet. On whether it works: “Its effects on body weight are unknown.” On whether it is safe: “Raspberry ketone hasn't been studied enough to tell if it's safe.” That is not a weak finding. It is the absence of one in both directions.
Step four: where the story stops being checkable
Up to here every step can be followed, because every ingredient has been written about. This is where it stops. A published finding attaches to an amount: NIH's green coffee line carries 200 milligrams a day for 12 weeks inside it, and FDA's caffeine figures are milligrams per day. To carry either across you need the capsule's own figure.
Three of the five named ingredients contain caffeine - caffeine anhydrous, green coffee bean extract and green tea extract - and no caffeine figure is printed for any of them, or for the serving as a whole. There is no Supplement Facts panel, no amount for any of the five names, no blend total and no course length. No published trial on the finished SodaSlim formula appears in anything we have read, so every source on this site describes a named ingredient or the product category rather than this product.
And the fact sheet's summary of the category sits over all of it: “there's little scientific evidence that weight-loss supplements work.”
Step 1 of 5