Have you been seeing Amare Happy Juice all over your social media feed lately? Amare Happy Juice is a combination of two different products: Amare EDGE+ and MentaBiotics. With a unique blend of compounds aimed at enhancing the gut-brain axis, Amare Happy Juice drink mixes have taken the internet by storm and claim to help boost your overall mood. But is it really something to smile about?
What is Amare Happy Juice?
Happy juice by Amare Global is a powdered drink mix formulated to mix into 16 to 20 oz of water. Happy Juice is a dietary supplement made by the company Amare Global, which is a direct sales MLM company. It’s a combination of two Amare products: Amare EDGE+ and MentaBiotics. Each product is a powder that’s packaged in a single-serve, convenient packet.
Amare Global: A Multi-Level Marketing Company
Amare global is a company that creates a variety of products and programs specifically aimed at optimizing mental wellness. These products claim to promote mental wellness by enhancing mental fitness, physical performance, stress resilience, confidence, and more.
For sales, Amare global aims to “connect like minded individuals” to promote and sell their products. Simply put, Amare Global is an MLM or “Multi Level Marketing company” that recruits people who then recruit people who all make commission when you buy the products they promote. As much as this may make some people upset, MLM companies can often experience blurred lines between honest and not so honest marketing.
Amare Global offers a 100% 90-day money-back satisfaction guarantee (less shipping charges) upon return of the product or product containers to all customers. If, for any reason, a customer is dissatisfied with any Amare Global product, the purchaser may return the unused portion of the product in its original container and packaging (or the empty product container) to Amare Global within 90 days of purchase for a replacement, exchange, or a full refund of the purchase price (less shipping costs).
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Ingredients of Amare Happy Juice
Now that we have discussed what happy juice is supposed to do, let’s take a look at the three products I mentioned and see what’s in them:
MentaBiotics
MentaBiotics is available in a raspberry hibiscus flavor or an unflavored option. What is it: a drink mix that focuses on promoting mental health by supporting gut health. It contains a blend of probiotics, prebiotics, phytobiotics, and “digestive performance ingredients” that it claims will support mental wellness through the gut-brain axis.
Here is what you can find on the label of the original Mentabiotics:
- Proprietary probiotic blend: the probiotics contained are specific strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. It is claims that these three probiotic strains can result in a positive mood, stress resilience, and promote gut health. Specifically, Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175 are two probiotic strains that have been researched and found to specifically improve mood and lower anxiety levels.
- Proprietary prebiotic blend: A blend of prebiotics like iso-malto oligosaccharides, galactic-oligo-saccharides, and galactomannan fibre. Prebiotics feed gut bacteria and this proprietary blend is designed to complement the proprietary probiotic blend also in this product. This prebiotic blend also contains a patented form of L-theanine. For context, most Americans fall short on meeting the recommended guidelines for dietary fiber daily (you’re only going to get prebiotics if you eat fiber!). The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults eat 14 grams of fiber per 1000 calories of food. That typically equates to a daily fiber goal of 25 grams of fiber per day for women and 38 grams of fiber for men. So 3 grams of fiber from this supplement can help you get to your fiber goal, but it’s essentially a drop in the bucket.
- Phytobiotics- this is what Amare global calls phytonutrients, which are plant extracts that can have disease fighting properties. This product contains various extracts from plants, plant seeds, and plant bark.
- Digestive performance ingredients: Including L-Glutamine and different plant extracts like those from Ginger and Artichoke leaf.
AmareEDGE+
Amare EDGE+ is the newer version of the original Amare Edge. What is it: A complementary product that has many claims surrounding mental health and motivation through its inclusion of plant derived “nootropics.” This product is offered in a variety of flavors and one of the three flavors is a caffeine source as well. There’s three different flavors available for this supplement: mango, watermelon, and grape. The watermelon and grape flavor contain no caffeine. The mango flavor provides 100 mg of natural caffeine. In the mango flavor, you’ll get 100mg of caffeine, which is about the same as a cup of coffee.
Here are the ingredients:
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- These products contain mango leaf extract, lychee fruit extract, and a palm fruit bioactive complex. Mango leaf, lychee fruit, and palm fruit are all very nutrient dense options. They’re packed with antioxidants such as polyphenols and flavonoids.
- They each also contain a “mind and body” proprietary blend with lions mane, citicholine, and then the mango flavor has a natural caffeine source. Neuron Regeneration Proprietary Blend: this proprietary blend is a combination of the powerful nootropic lion’s mane and citicoline. Citicoline is another natural nootropic. It also contains citicoline, a precursor to neurotransmitters.
Claims and Reality
Research does support that the ingredients found within Happy Juice can help with mood, mental clarity, cognitive function, your body’s stress response, anxiety levels, and gut health.
The Gut-Brain Axis
MentaBiotics claims rely heavily on the gut-brain axis, which is the two-way communication network between your gut and brain. The gut-brain axis links the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system in the digestive tract. This connection can influence overall mood, cognition, digestion, immune system, hormones and overall health.
One thing we do know is that optimizing the gut microbiotia (or the bacteria that live in your gut) is essential for healthy gut activity from better digestion to stronger immunity. So, do we even know what that means to optimize the gut-brain axis? At this point, no we don’t and the process to get to “optimized” would be highly individual.
Proprietary Blends and Dosages
Happy Juice Packs are mainly formulated with proprietary blends. Both Amare EDGE+ and MentaBiotics contain proprietary blends of ingredients. Think of proprietary blends like a secret recipe. The company will tell you the ingredients that are in the proprietary blend, but not how much of each individual ingredient. Given the use of proprietary blends, we have no idea how much of each ingredient is actually in this supplement.
Proprietary blends don’t disclose the exact amount of each ingredient, which makes it impossible to know if you’re getting an effective dose. Just because an ingredient is included doesn’t mean there’s enough of it to actually work. It’s like adding a pinch of coffee grounds to a giant pot of water-you won’t get a strong cup of coffee, just flavored water.
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There’s only 200 mg of Mango leaf, lychee fruit, and palm fruit proprietary blend and the therapeutic dosage for any of these fruit extracts is either just below or more than this amount. The same is true for the second proprietary blend that includes lion’s mane and citicoline too unfortunately. The recommended dosage to get the brain-boosting and potential benefits is usually 1000 to 1500 mg of lion’s mane per day. The research for citicoline is also pretty impressive but the therapeutic dose is 250 to 500 mg per day.
Scientific Evidence and Research
While they have “science” pages linked for most of their products, those science pages did not include actual studies, just claims. There were two other well written reviews that I that referenced some of the previously disclosed research:Are Amare Products Legit? I thought to myself, am I missing something? But no, she also could not find any of the research. Research that was abundantly clear in years prior. To me, this is not only weird to see but a MASSIVE red flag, especially from a “wellness” company. If you make robust health claims on your products, you better have research to back it up and that research should be very easy to find and access.
Pros and Cons of Amare Happy Juice
Now that we have taken a look at the research, or lack there of, let’s summarize a few pro’s that I have identified for Happy Juice as well as a few con’s for you to consider:
Pros:
- Convenient: A simple drink mix designed to easily blend into your water, this product is incredibly convenient to take and comes in a variety of flavors.
- Could introduce nutrients you may be missing: These products to offer health promoting nutrients like probiotics, prebiotics, phytonutrients, and more. While I think there are better ways to get these nutrients in the diet (like food), this could be a simple starting point.
- More Fiber: Most Americans fall short on getting adequate fiber into their daily diet. This may offer an easy way to get 3 grams of fiber into your diet.
- Evidence Based:
- YOU MAY LOVE IT!: I don’t see anything inherently risky with any of the ingredients, I just don’t think the product itself matches the health claims. If you love the flavors of these drinks, then that’s great! Consult your doctor to make sure there are no potential medication interactions.
Cons:
- Cost: This is absolutely the biggest con in my opinion. A 30-day supply of Amare’s Happy Juice Pack will cost you $149.95 USD if you opt into their “subscribe and save” option. If you choose to not subscribe, it will cost you $166.95 USD for the 30 day supply. In my opinion, this product is overpriced for what it is.
- Proprietary blend: This is certainly not uncommon in the supplement industry, many companies don’t want to disclose their exact formulas.
- Possibly Inadequate Dosages: Given the use of proprietary blends, we have no idea how much of each ingredient is actually in this supplement. For example, we know that many of the ingredients in this supplement can help with various symptoms, but are these ingredients included in amounts that can actually make a difference?
- No General Third Party Testing: The supplement industry is not regulated in the same way that the food industry is. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate or approve of any dietary supplements, their labeling, or health claims. It’s not uncommon to find supplements on the market that don’t actually have what they’re advertising inside their supplements. Unfortunately, it seems like Amare products are tested in house rather than by an unbiased third party lab such as NSF. They do have the BSBG Drug-Free Certification, however, this seems to just screen for substances that are usually banned in sports.
- Multi-Level Marketing: Amare Global is a direct-sales company that uses multi-level marketing to promote their products.
- Potential Digestive Upset: Increasing your dietary fiber and probiotic intake may lead to digestive discomfort or upset for some people.
Alternatives to Amare Happy Juice
There isn’t necessarily a singular product that I know of that is a direct substitute for Amare Happy Juice.
- Mood+ Probiotic: This probiotic option contains all 3 of the same probiotics that are available in MentaBiotics. It doesn’t contain L-theanine like MentaBiotics, which is a calming compound. Instead, it contains ashwagandha, which is a powerful adaptogen that can help your body respond more efficiently to stress.
- Mood Probiotic: This probiotic contains a mixture of the Lactobacillus helveticus + Bifidobacterium longum combo, which has been researched for its ability to improve mood and lower anxiety.
- Prebiotics: Maybe this is the dietitian in me, but I just cannot get behind paying money for a prebiotic supplement when you can (and should be) easily getting these from a healthy diet. For context, ½ cup of oats will give you 4 grams of dietary fiber with 2-3 grams of that being prebiotic fiber - about the same amount of prebiotic fiber in MentaBiotics.
- I don’t find the Amare EDGE+ supplement to be worth it at all. If you’re interested in the potential benefits of nootropics, exploring those types of supplements in more therapeutic doses may be worthwhile. Of course, the cons of purchasing these types of supplement alternatives is that you’d need to sacrifice the convenience of a powder for capsules (or gummies in some cases).
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