The word ‘Amare’ means love in Italian, but will you love Amare the company after you read this Amare review?

Only you can answer that.

Amare is a company that sells wellness products via multi level marketing (MLM). If you haven’t read any of my other nutrition MLM reviews, you definitely should get right on that.

I give the lowdown on these sorts of companies and their products, holding up the claims against the science (or lack thereof), and giving you the straight story on all things nutrition.

Amare calls itself ‘The Mental Wellness Company.’ Its philosophy is that ‘mental wellness is everything: mental fitness, confidence, physical performance, stress resilience, and financial wellness’….although I suspect that they stuck the ‘financial wellness’ part in there to help recruit salespeople: a common MLM tactic.

Amare talks a lot about the gut-brain axis, which is definitely a thing. 

But what’s not a thing, at least, not yet, is know exactly how to optimize the gut for weight loss or mood, or ‘optimizing’ the gut-brain axis function, which the company likes to say. 

‘In order to allow our body to function at optimal levels, our mental health needs to be balanced. How do we accomplish this? With a plan to connect our body with not only our brain, but also with our biome.’

As I’ve said numerous times in posts and interviews with major publications, we just don’t have the evidence to back these sorts of claims up.

Yes, gut health is important.

Yes, our gut and brain are linked.

But that’s sort of where the human evidence stops. Just like we don’t know what the ideal microbiome looks like, we don’t know exactly what an ‘optimal’ gut-brain axis function is or how to achieve this.

Amare sells a lot of products, but we’re going to be looking at their weight management line, since that’s my expertise.

The Amare weight management tab is labelled ‘confidence and weight’…because somehow those things need to go together? You can’t have confidence if you don’t weigh a certain amount?

How very MLM of them. 

The Amare B3 Body Pack

This seemed like a good place for me to start this review, since Amare says it’s an ‘undiet solution to fuel a healthy lifestyle.’

That’s funny. B3 has a ‘meal replacement system’  (which I think is the protein powder?) and a cleanse with a ‘do not eat’ list, sure looks like a diet to me.

I want to start with Amare Reboot+, because Amare recommends that you begin your B3 journey with it. Products like these are a sort of litmus test for me: when an MLM sells a cleanse, and they all seem to sell one, it’s an immediate red flag. Cleanses have been debunked time and time again, and honestly, I’m shocked that people still fall for this garbage science.

Needless to say, if a company is selling this stuff, it shows me where their head is at. 

Amare’s Reboot + “is the first step in ridding your body of the imbalances in gut bacteria that can be the source of digestive problems, unbalanced inflammation, and nagging mental wellness issues such as fatigue, tension and depressed mood,” or so the company claims.

It’s important to say that many of these things haven’t been directly linked to gut health. Fatigue, ‘tension,’ depression, ‘unbalanced inflammation’…it’s a huge leap to say that X helps your gut which in turn impacts Y. No.

The first ingredient in Reboot +’s ‘proprietary blend’ (more on that later) is senna, a laxative. The other ingredients are artichoke, green tea, nutmeg, and a couple other plants. 

Reboot + allegedly ‘reboots’ the gut-brain axis in three days by making you sh*t, although physiologically, I’m not sure how subjecting your colon to a laxative can POSITIVELY impact the microbiome. Unlike your hands, your colon doesn’t need to be ‘washed,’ and when you flush out the bacteria, the good bugs go down the toilet.

Despite what Amare claims, ‘Wastes and toxins’ don’t ‘build up’ in the body, not if you have functioning kidneys and lungs and a liver that does its job. This is that old ‘you have 10 pounds of toxic sludge in your intestines’ stuff that’s meant to scare you into buying what they’re selling, but is a complete physiological fallacy.

The cleansing diet that goes along with Reboot +, predictably takes out dairy, grains, soy, eggs, and meats. 

Amare cleanse
Here’s the food list for Amare’s cleanse. Very predictable.

There is no scientific evidence that taking these foods out of your diet does anything to ‘reboot’ your body or better nourish it.

Amare’s claim that Reboot + “Prevents liver damage 2-3x better than other popular detox supplements” is rather bizarre. What does that even mean? Do other products cause liver damage? 

I’m going to say it one more time for the people in the back:

Your. Body. Does. Not. Need. Any. Help. With. Cleansing. Itself.

Any legitimate medical professional or company selling nutrition products should know that. Either they know it and are still selling it, which is unconscionable.

Or, they don’t know it…in which case, they shouldn’t be helping people with their health.

Choose one. Both options are bad. 

Amare GBX Superfood

Amare claims that GBX Superfood, a blend of fruits, vegetables, spirulina, and Japanese asparagus, “provides the phytonutrient equivalent of three servings of fruits and vegetables per scoop. This phytobiotic-rich blend delivers cellular level anti-stress benefits and helps protect cells from a variety of different stressors, helping the brain and gut run at peak efficiency.”

Newsflash: everything you eat and drink provides nourishment on a ‘cellular level.’ That’s how bodies work, y’all.

(Here’s why I have huge issues with Nutrition MLMs and their coaches)

Make no mistakes about it, powders like these do not replace fruits and vegetables. And again, we see that Superfood has a ‘proprietary blend,’ which means that we have no idea how much of each ingredient is actually in the product.

I have yet to come across a nutrition MLM that does not use proprietary blends, which I feel are problematic. This is because we don’t know if any of the ‘active’ ingredients (I use the word ‘active’ lightly) are in sufficient amounts to even have an effect. I get that companies want to hide their recipes for these products, but that allows them to potentially hide a lot more than that, do you know what I mean?

Amare uses a lot of science-y language around its products. The company claims that the ingredients in GBX Superfood are ‘clinically proven’ to:

“Increase Heat Shock Protein expression, enhance internal cellular cleanup (autophagy), and provide stress resilience benefits that you can FEEL at the cellular level.”

I feel EVERYTHING at the cellular level, because PHYSIOLOGY. Please don’t fall for scientific mumbo jumbo.

One thing I love about Amare is that they provide the studies they cite to back up their product claims. I dove into those studies, and found that they were all about Japanese asparagus and its apparent ability to reduce stress. The studies were mostly over 5 years old and very small. 

(Do these things for a better relationship with food and your body)

All of these studies used between 100mg-150mg of Japanese asparagus (ETAS) a day. The amount of Japanese asparagus in the 2.5g dose of GBX Superfood is unknown, however, because proprietary formula!

It’s also very important to understand that the studies Amare cites have not been done on the Amare products; rather, they’re studies looking at ingredients that are IN the Amare products. 

So when Amare says that its products contain ingredients that are ‘clinically proven’ to do X, they aren’t saying that their exact products do those things. And I’m still not seeing how the product or its ingredients can enhance autophagy. 

GBX Superfood does look like it has some nice prebiotic fibre in it, which does nourish the gut.

GBX Seed Fiber is mostly the same sort of thing, with studies being cited to prove the efficacy of the mushroom component (AHCC) of this seed and mushroom-based product for immunity.

Most of these studies were very small, and over 5 years old. Most of them looked at very specific populations, such as people with colon cancer or HPV or kids with epilepsy. 

I’m assuming that Amare chose the very best studies to feature for its product technical data, but most of these don’t tell us a lot about how the product works for healthy people. 

This more recent review of studies says that the effects of AHCC on the intestinal microbiome are unknown. 

So, the claims that GBX Seed Fiber “Naturally modulates microRNA signaling” and “Supports natural microbiome modulation” are IMO, questionable. Plausible, but as of now, not conclusively proven.

We know that many plant seeds contain high levels of antioxidants and fibre. I’m not clear how this product helps the gut-brain axis, though, which leads me to the million dollar issue and question:

Every Amare product that I looked at gave the same line in the dosing instructions: “Consume X servings per day for optimal gut-brain axis support.”

This doesn’t mean anything. It’s all marketing. Amare’s whole thing is the gut-brain axis, but again, we don’t know what an optimal gut-brain axis really is. So, how can we ‘optimize’ it?

GBX Protein has the same sorts of claims around it, and looks to me like a vegan protein powder that’s rather unremarkable, nutrition-wise. Amare claims that GBX Protein contains non-GMO chickpeas, but GMO chickpeas don’t exist.

Honestly, the best protein powder is the one you can tolerate. If that’s GBX, fine.

Out of all the Amare B3 products, I’ve failed to understand how any of them can actually produce weight loss. What is the underlying mechanism here? 

Protein and seed fibre causing people to feel full?? I don’t get it. 

Cortisol and weight may be one angle. Some of the Amare products are marketed as stress-reducing, which in turn may reduce cortisol levels. Some people believe that elevated cortisol causes weight gain. 

Amare salespeople (not naming names) have been known to take this approach.

However, cortisol levels are not directly related to weight (I know, I used to think they were, too). Turns out, chronically elevated cortisol may increase appetite, which in turn may increase weight. But it’s not like, stress equals a sudden increase in pounds. 

Amare Edge

Edge is the one Amare product under the ‘weight loss’ banner that seems to have a more direct weight loss function.

Purportedly, that is.

Amare Edge apparently gives you a ‘better metabolism’ and will ‘transform’ your life.

RED FLAG!! The promise of a transformation is high on my red flag list…along with metabolism-boosting claims. 

Nothing we eat or drink can ‘boost’ metabolism enough to cause appreciable weight loss. Please remember that. 

amare edge
Yeahhh, no. There is nothing on earth that fires up your metabolism so you burn fat while you’re dancing on the beach.

Edge has three ingredients, but the lychee component is what Amare claims causes a ‘loss of belly fat over time.’ 

Again, another product with a proprietary blend. And lychees, I mean, let’s face it – if these worked for weight loss, we’d all be belly fat free. 

(Here’s everything you need to know about diet and PCOS)

Still, like a total champ, Amare provides the research to back up its lychee-weight loss claims. 

Let’s take a look.

As an aside, the majority of the studies that Amare gives to back up its claims around Edge are animal and cell studies, not human ones. And out of the 24 studies it cites about the lychee ingredient (Oligonol), this 2009 study is the only one is about weight loss. 

This 2018 study, however, didn’t find any effect on weight loss from Oligonal. Other than these two studies, not much else has been done on Oligonol and weight…maybe for a reason. 

I see this with a lot of nutrition MLMs. Remember that just because an ingredient has ‘research’ around it, doesn’t mean that this research proves any of the company’s claims. 

I’m still left with a question: how does Edge – and specifically Oligonol – affect metabolism, again?

I’ve heard that some Amare salespeople are claiming that Edge causes ‘effortless’ weight loss.

NOTHING causes effortless weight loss. And if someone tell you this, the last thing you should be doing is giving them your money. You should turn around and run away. 

IF IT WORKED, WE’D ALL BE AT OUR HAPPY WEIGHT.

amare edge review
A drink can’t possibly do all of these things. And if you need help with your mood, please SEE A DOCTOR.

Amare Happy Juice

Amare Happy Juice is a combination of Amare Edge, MentaBiotics, and Energy+. According to the company, when we mix these three products, the following happens:

  • Supports mood & motivation*
  • Provides overall health for the second brain (gut)*
  • Enhances mental performance*
  • Provides the fuel needed for a highly productive day*

You’ve read about Edge.

According to the company, Amare MentaBiotics is “the most comprehensive combination of unique strains of probiotics, prebiotics, and phytobiotics that have been scientifically shown to improve mental wellness.*”

There’s that little disclaimer star! I checked out their ‘science,’ and here’s how it stacks up:

Out of 64 studies that they have on their site to support this product,

0 studies are on the actual MentaBiotics product itself.

40 are either animal or cell studies, or journal articles about the efficacy of a certain ingredient in the product.

The rest of the studies are over 5 years old, small, and again, not on the actual product itself.

The average person sees over 30 pages of ‘studies.’ This doesn’t mean anything. Sure, the ingredients in MentaBiotics may be efficacious to some degree. But does this mean the claims made about Amare MentaBiotics are proven? I don’t think so.

Energy+ is a stimulant powder with caffeine and other botanicals. The efficacy of this product over a cup of coffee has not been seen.

Happy Juice, in my opinion, is a catchy way for the company to convince you that you need to buy all three product$. Don’t be sucked into this.

Amare makes a big show of telling you that its products boost mood, but I have to say here that no supplements can take the place of medical help if you’re depressed or anxious. So please – get proper assessment and care if this is where you’re at. 

Amare review bottom line:

I’m not sure how any of this works for weight loss or mental wellness.

The claims Amare makes around its products and the gut-brain axis seem to be way ahead of any science that we currently have. 

Any company that sells you cleanses should be regarded with suspicion.

All in all, Amare looks like it’s giving us the same old MLM sales pitch with not much to back it up.

Hard pass on Amare.