Hydroxycut Reviews

Here’s our honest assessment of Hydroxycut: they’re the world-wide leaders for one reason, marketing. They’ve made a significant investment in the brand and it’s paying off. But you don’t sell a lot of products on slick marketing alone. You need to have solid products, which they do. But they’re rarely any better than the other thousands of options available to consumers. The bottom line is you probably can find something that works but I wouldn’t risk it.

Negative Side Effects

Most of you have heard of Hydroxycut, and for good reason. It’s one of the most recognized weight loss supplement brands in the world. From 2008-2010 they were selling about a million units a year.

The products are fairly solid – some better than others – but the strong marketing approach has helped them capture a good portion of the market. To be quite frank, any examination of Hydroxycut should be more about savvy marketing than anything else.

But don’t assume that brand recognition equals a sure-fire product. That can be a common consumer misconception. Again, Hydroxycut has a staple of solid products (many of those we review below) but in some cases you can find better value with less brand recognition.

Quick History

Before moving onto the numerous Hydroxycut reviews, let’s take a quick trip through history. Entering the scene in the late 90’s, Hydroxycut made its first big splash during the heyday of the ephedra-based product boom. However, in 2009 the FDA slapped them with a warning after some Hydroxycut products were linked to liver damage and rhabdomyolysis. Hydroxycut recalled all the problematic products, and then quickly changed the formulas before putting them back on the market.

This wasn’t the first time Hydroxycut has been under scrutiny. In June of 2003 the New York Times found that MuscleTech officials (the makers of Hydroxycut) weren’t as forthcoming about their products as they should be. (Fessenden, Ford (June 23, 2003). “Studies of Dietary Supplements Come Under Growing Scrutiny”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-02.)

Even with a long history of products being banned and recalled, Hydroxycut continues to develop some of the most popular supplements on the market. You’ll see hundreds of Hydroxycut reviews on dozens of consumer product review sites like ours. Because of the company’s size it’ll continue to be under our watchful eye.

Consumer Treatment

Consumer treatment is where we examine how the product manufacture takes care of the consumer’s needs. We rate everything on a scale of 1 to 10. with 10 being the obvious best. The consumer support system for Hydroxycut is terrible; there’s no way to sugarcoat it.

Their website clear and easy to use. You can easily browse the numerous products Hydroxycut offers. But because they offer so many products it might take you a while (assuming you enter the individual product page through Hydroxycut’s main page) to actually find the product you’re looking for. Check out the recipes they offer via a specific tab on the website. You might find some good diet options there.

I would have liked them to mention on their main landing page any money-back guarantees they offer or even post some type of contact information for customer service. I see none of that. Do they have a customer support network? There just isn’t any information, which makes trying to communicate with them or find guarantees frustrating.

I don’t see any kind of customer service. I get that they sell most of their stuff through third party retailers like GNC and such, but still, there is no way to contact them about product questions.

Money-back Guarantee: 0

Hydroxycut, itself – as far as I can tell – does not offer a money-back guarantee on their products. For any type of monetary protection you will have to rely on the third party retailer and their money-back policy, which is another thing I don’t care much for. A company should always offer some type of guarantee, if nothing else to show they stand behind their product(s). If Hydroxycut does offer a guarantee, they need to publish that somewhere on the main page with easy links to how the product can be returned.

Hydroxycut Products

Hydroxycut has something for everyone. There seems to be a billion different Hydroxycut products. A quick internet browse will show product lines for women, men, muscle builders, cleansers, dieters, and health nuts.

We’ve included several Hydroxycut reviews on our site to help you better understand the purpose of each product. Some have set themselves apart while others are just so-so. If you’re interested in finding out which product might work best for you, click on the reviews below for more information.

How Does Hydroxycut Compare

Here’s our honest assessment of Hydroxycut: they’re the world-wide leaders for one reason, marketing. They’ve made a significant investment in the brand and it’s paying off. But you don’t sell a lot of products on slick marketing alone. You need to have solid products, which they do. But they’re rarely any better than the other thousands of options available to consumers. The bottom line is you probably can find something that works, but I wouldn’t risk it.

Josh is a supplement specialist and competitive powerlifter. He specializes in technical ingredient research and company information and stays up to date on competitions and show information. He's one of our first-line reviewers, trying every new product.

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