Doctor Reviews: K3 Spark Mineral

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K3 Spark Mineral is a supplement marketed for weight loss. However, I strongly suspect that this supplement was first marketed for constipation and digestion, before it was rebranded as a weight loss supplement.

Let me tell you exactly why I think that and why I don’t think it’s actually a weight loss supplement at all, by taking you through my comprehensive analysis of K3 Spark Mineral.

Ingredients of K3 Spark Mineral

Let’s first take a look at the ingredients. Here are the doses per capsule. The recommended dosing is two per day.

By the way, I’m referring to the capsule supplement version of K3 Spark Mineral, not the gummy version with a similar name. I’ve reviewed similar keto ACV gummies before for weight loss, and I’ll link the article down below if you’re interested in hearing my review about the keto gummy which they call K3 Spark Keto.

You’ll notice we have no information about the doses of the ingredients. This is because all of its ingredients are hidden behind what we call a “proprietary blend”.

Proprietary blends list the ingredients within the blend, but allow supplement companies to avoid listing the exact amount of each ingredient within the blend.

It’s a lack of transparency. They can list an effective ingredient, but only have trace amounts of it and you won’t be able to tell since the dose isn’t listed.

Supplements often use these proprietary blends to hide very low doses within their ingredient lists.

This is why it’s a good idea to avoid proprietary blends or mixes. If they’re hiding the actual dose from you, it’s much more difficult to figure out what exactly you’re taking.

With that in mind, let’s try to analyze what we can. Whenever supplements add any ingredients into their product, there are three very common issues:

1. The doses they use are way too small to be effective
2. They aren’t using the active compounds
3. The ingredient itself has not reliably shown any beneficial effect in humans

When we analyze these ingredients, let’s see which of these issues they have.

Oat bran and prune juice

Oat bran and prune juice have soluble fibers in them. Soluble fibers can help to manage hunger when consumed since it helps to fill up your stomach when mixed with water, and some of these soluble fibers, like glucomannan and psyllium husk, have evidence that it can help some people to lose a little weight.

However, not all soluble fibers have this beneficial effect, and unfortunately oat bran and prune juice do not have these effects.

They may be helpful for cholesterol and constipation, but do not have any noticeable effects on weight.

Even then, you need to be taking a cup or two of these things in your diet for it to be useful. The tiny amounts found in K3 Spark Mineral is not going to do anything.

Fennel seed

There is no evidence fennel is useful for weight loss. In fact, a study found that post-menopausal women actually slightly gained weight taking fennel.

Regardless, the dose of fennel in K3 Spark Mineral is too small to have even those effects.

But the inclusion of fennel into this supplement mystified me at first, since fennel is not typically used in weight loss supplements.

Fennel is a herb traditionally used for aiding digestion. Herbalists call it a carminative, which means it helps to calm the digestive system and reduce things like gas and bloating.

This is where I started to think K3 Spark Mineral was actually once a digestive supplement rebranded as a weight loss supplement, and continuing down the list of ingredients seemed to prove my point.

Cascara Sagrada, Buckthorn, Senna

Cascara sagrada, buckthorn, and senna are all supplemented for their laxative properties, not weight loss.

Of these three, only senna has good evidence that it’s effective for constipation, while the other two are only traditionally used for constipation and lack good evidence they’re actually useful as a laxative.

In fact, Cascara sagrada was once FDA-approved for use in over-the-counter laxative products, but this designation was removed in 2002 due to a lack of supporting evidence.

Nevertheless, K3 Spark Mineral contains at least three potential laxatives, and even though the doses it uses are likely too low to actually be much of a laxative, it’s starting to sound like this supplement was not designed for weight loss at all, but rather constipation.

Pumpkin seed and Acai berry

The addition of pumpkin seed and Acai berry is somewhat random since neither are useful for weight loss or constipation.

I mean they both contain some antioxidant nutrients, and are good forms of protein and fiber on a weight loss diet, like many other nuts, seeds, and berries, but these need to be incorporated into your diet as a food for it to be useful, not taken in tiny amounts like a supplement.

For example, the average weight of a pumpkin seed is 200 mg. Even if the entire K3 Spark Mineral supplement was made of pumpkin seed, which it obviously is not, that’d be the equivalent of taking 2 and a half pumpkin seeds per day. Yeah, that’s not going to do anything.

Cayenne pepper

Cayenne pepper is likely an attempt to add capsaicin into the supplement as cheaply as possible.

There is some scant research that tried to look at capsaicin and weight loss, however it didn’t find much benefit at all, and the studies were using purified capsaicin.

But K3 Spark Mineral is not even using capsaicin. It’s using cayenne pepper. Cayenne pepper is a crude form of capsaicin, and has far lower doses of capsaicin than will be useful.

Licorice root and Rhubarb

Licorice root and rhubarb are also traditional herbs used for digestive issues, not weight loss.

There is no evidence that the licorice root or rhubarb found in this supplement will be useful for weight loss whatsoever.

Herbalists use them both to help soothe mucous membranes and promote digestion, for things like heartburn or gas.

However, people typically consume many grams of licorice or rhubarb for this benefit, and the doses in K3 Spark Mineral are far too low to do anything useful.

K3 Spark Mineral Side Effects and Concerns

From the listed ingredients, it’s very difficult to determine how safe it is based on the crude extracts and lack of accurate dosing information.

For example, senna is a stimulant laxative and I could see K3 Spark Mineral potentially causing diarrhea in some people, since it combines a few other laxatives. However they refuse to list the exact dose or extract of senna, so I can’t say for sure.

Another example is that raw licorice contains a compound called glycyrrhizin, which has caused cardiac problems and fatalities in the past when taken at higher doses. So most licorice supplements remove this compound, and this is called deglycyrrhizinated licorice or DGL.

Now I’m not sure if K3 Spark Mineral is using DGL or not, but it probably doesn’t matter, since you need to take very large amounts of licorice, like 10s of grams per day, for there to be any negative effects.

Realistically, the doses of all the ingredients are probably too low to cause many issues, but the lack of dosing information makes this supplement overall really sketchy to take.

Is K3 Spark Mineral effective?

Given everything I’ve seen, this supplement is completely useless for weight loss.

K3 Spark Mineral would be better as a supplement for constipation and mild digestive issues, and I believe that this supplement was first put together with that in mind, since there are barely any ingredients that would actually be useful for weight loss.

It’s not expected to do anything for your weight, and I doubt it actually does anything, but if it does do something, it likely works as a mild laxative and digestive aid.

Overall, K3 Spark Mineral is worthless as a weight loss supplement, and really not worth it for constipation either.

Overall review: K3 Spark Mineral

Reviewing K3 Spark Mineral by effectiveness for weight loss, I’m giving it an F. It’s not going to do anything for weight loss.

Reviewing K3 Spark Mineral by cost, I’m giving it an F. You can replicate what it’s trying to do but even better for a cost 3 times less.

Reviewing K3 Spark Mineral for safety, I’m giving it a C. While I suspect the doses are too low to cause much harm, it’s too difficult to say for sure, and there are ingredients in it which could cause some people problems.

Overall review, I’m giving K3 Spark Mineral an F. I would recommend you stay away from it.

Top alternatives to K3 Spark Mineral

If you’re looking to achieve similar effects, but better than those of K3 Spark Mineral, I would combine a quality soluble fiber + senna extract.

• Oatmeal – 1 cup / day
• Psyllium husk (caps) – 3 to 12 caps w/ meals
• Psyllium husk (Metamucil) – 1 scoop w/ meals
• Psyllium husk (powder) – 1 to 3 tsp w/ meals
• Senna (Senokot) – as needed

Learn more about

• Capsaicin for Weight Loss
• Dealing With Constipation On A Diet
• 6 Things To Look For On Supplements
• 5 Things to Know Before Buying Weight Loss Supplements
• Other weight loss supplements

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