I have received a few requests to review Tranont, a Utah-based multi-level marketing company that sells nutritional supplements. They also sell beauty products, provide tax and money management advice, scented candles, and CBD-based bath products. Sounds like a cohesive business model, and with the company’s ‘pillars’: “Health, Wealth, Community” how could it *not* be?

Founded in 2013 by entrepreneurs (remember that word): Lorne Berry, Russ Losey, and Scott Bland. While they are convincingly dressed like businessmen, none of them have any certification or training in health care.

They are a company with a ‘mission to impact the lives of 1 billion people’. In addition to their suite of products (I’ll get to those), they’re also trying to change lives by turning us into successful entrepreneurs – just like them! You can sign up as Tranont Associate to sell these products and ‘start your own business’.

The company claims that we can change our lives with Tranont’s transformative products and the opportunity to earn income, earn incredible rewards and find personal satisfaction.

When an MLM company uses words like ‘conversion/transformational’ and ‘run your own business’, it is 100% red flag.

MLM is a $42 billion industry, yet only 25% of MLM sellers make money. Guess who earns the most? Those guys in suits! When you are in an MLM, you are working for them, and funding their lifestyle.

Of the 25% who actually made money, 14% made less than $5,000, 6% made between $5,000 and $9,999, 3% made between $10,000 and $24,999, 3% made $25,000 or more, while just .05 % made $100,000 or more.

MLMs also target women. Please don’t involve yourself in or support companies like these.

In Tranont (as well as most other MLMs), once you sign up as an affiliate, you get your own sales page and a chance to earn points for attending Tranont conferences! As you sell more, you move up levels! Diamond… Platinum… Ruby. very fancy.

Associates who reach the goal also become ‘Jeep Earners’ and are rewarded with a Jeep emblazoned with the Tranont logo!

Here we have Bree, who is a Blue Diamond ranked associate, and has mastered the art of recruiting, using her Instagram to connect others with her “Total Body Reset System Bundle.”

Oh brie, there is no such thing as a ‘whole body reset’.

Also: going on a diet does not lead to ‘overall healthy eating and living’. Quite the contrary, actually.

New affiliates are provided with encouraging blog posts that outline how they help them “come to the conference and grow their business.” This convention is self-help Tony Robbins style circle jerk The crowd crossed over with the Hollywood Awards Gala set in Las Vegas.

At conferences, you are shown slides like this with subtle hints of spiritual manipulation.

As you may have guessed by now, this – and other MLM’s – are not about health and wellness. They are about sales, recruiting and more sales. Luckily there are regulatory bodies that MLMs fall under.

Tranont has been embroiled in some tussles with these regulatory bodies recently. Over the past two years, the company has come under investigation by the Better Business Bureau and The Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council, as well as investigations by the Federal Trade Commission. These are clearly sorted, but they speak volumes about the Wild West of the MLM sales industry.

Remember Brie? He contributed a blog post to the Tranont website, where he lays out some savvy media strategies, explaining “During the holidays, we tend to be more product-focused on our social-media accounts—our network loves product bundles and gift suggestions! For example, this year we are grouping Enrich, Glow, Nourish and Mojo together and we are promoting them as the ‘Skinny Set!

Yep, you read that right — she’s promoting a random bundle of unflattering products as a gift suggestion for the holiday season, and calling them the “Skinny Set.”

If you think this is an appropriate gift to give someone, please think again.

“Backed by Science, We Followed Our Gut”: Tranont and Gut Health

Tranont is all about gut health, stating that the body’s gut balance can have an impact on your skin, mood, weight, immunity and brain. This is theoretically true, but despite saying they are ‘backed by science’, sadly they do not cite any scientific evidence to support their claims.

We can all agree that gut health is definitely an important part of our overall well-being, and we know that our microbiome can be affected by our diet (and here). There is an incredible amount of research being done on this topic (including over 500 active clinical trials tagged with the gut microbiome at www.clinicaltrials.gov) – it is highly complex and we are learning more every day.

What we don’t agree on is whether Tranont products will actually have a clinically relevant effect on gut health … or health in general.

Tranont Review: Tranont Weight Loss

The Tranont Weight Management line includes products such as Enrich, Nourish, and Zest.

A $251 USD bundle of all 3, called the Goal Getter Bundle, is what the company claims is a “triple threat combination to improve weight management.” Tranont also claims that these products will help “support focus and energy, improve abdominal skin bonding, and optimize digestion and nutrient absorption.”

I doubt it.

tranont enrich

Tranont Enrich is reportedly a full-spectrum enzyme, prebiotic and probiotic blend that “supports healthy digestion, nutrient absorption and overall well-being.”

Tranont Enrich is supposed to give us ‘digestive stability’ (not a medical term). Trenont warns that ‘you can eat with all the best of intentions, but without a diverse enzyme profile, those benefits can be right through you.’

Isn’t it interesting how companies try to create doubt and concern in order to push products?

Your diet is great, but very bad! You need our product anyhow! red flag.

‘It’s just what the body will do,’ says Trent. Which is correct, but what they’re not telling you is that your body is probably already doing it.

I have good news for you: unless you have been medically diagnosed with a specific enzyme deficiency (and yes, you would know if you had it), your ‘enzyme profile’ is quite varied. .

As far as the probiotics in Enrich, I’m wondering what their quality and efficacy are. Some probiotics cannot make it past the acidic environment of the stomach without being destroyed. Without independent testing to prove Enrich’s ingredients are effective, you’re flushing your money down the toilet.

Furthermore, supplementing with probiotics is not necessary for most healthy people who eat a varied diet.

Do You Need Probiotics? I break down the question.

trannant nourish

Here’s what the company says about Nourish:

Tranont Nourish is clinically proven to “promote beauty from within” by helping to brighten skin tone, reduce the appearance of fine lines, and restore moisture to the skin.

Each scoop delivers a powerful combination of our advanced superfood blend and GOS, our prebiotic-fiber formula, to help nourish your microbiome and fuel the healthy flora in your gut… because when you If you take care of your skin, your skin will glow.

I can’t wait to see the ‘clinical proof’ of these claims, except I haven’t found any.

It is important to note that no correlation has been found between the clarity of our gut, our skin, and any supplement. The gut and skin seem to be intertwined in terms of acne, psoriasis and other real skin conditions, but wrinkles and skin tone are another thing entirely.

Selling a supplement claiming that it increases hydration and reduces wrinkles is downright ridiculous.

Tranont’s nutritional products use a ‘proprietary blend’, which I have a problem with. This is mainly because by labeling groups of ingredients as ‘proprietary’, the company doesn’t have to disclose how much – or how little – of the product is in it.

It’s not transparent, and at the very least it can be dangerous. Furthermore, even if an ingredient in a product was effective, how do we know if we are getting the right dose of it?

Tranont Nourish has 80 calories and 15 grams of protein per serving, which is absurdly low for a meal replacement. Sure, you can mix Nourish with other things, but the directions say to only mix it with 8-12oz of ‘the beverage of your choice’.

As a dietitian it is astonishing to me why anyone would use this product.

Here’s the problem with MLM’s and their coaches.

trant zest

Tranont Zest” is inspiration in the making – especially when it comes to keeping your weight-management goals going strong. With a super-boost of clean energy, Zest delivers better alertness, greater focus, enhanced cognitive function and craving control.

It seems like MLM always has supplements that claim they help with cravings. Quality research does not exist to support this claim for any of these supplements, or the ingredients in them. Remember that cravings are often emotional, not physical.

The whole concept of ‘motivation’ and ‘willpower’ surrounding weight loss is patently false.

Tranont also claims that Jest can ‘improve mood’, which is a claim that I believe has the potential to be dangerous. I would never recommend that anyone turn away from mood medication in favor of this or any supplement.

There is no strong human evidence that the mood-enhancing ingredients in Zest — or other supplements — work consistently in that capacity.

Specifically, caffeine (from green coffee beans) features prominently in the zest. The blend contains 140 mg of natural caffeine per serving. To put that amount into perspective, caffeinated soft drinks are around 40mg/12oz, and a 12oz cup of coffee clocks in at between 80-100mg.

The maximum recommended intake for caffeine is 400 mg/day. This drops to 300mg for those who are pregnant, lactating, or planning to become pregnant. In such cases, consuming more than 2 scoops of Zest per day can be dangerous for the health.

It’s as if Zest is trying to get customers addicted to caffeine so they don’t eat (or have an urge to move more?). If it’s caffeine you’re after, I promise you there are cheaper ways. I’m not sure how a stimulator can provide ‘motivation’.

Tranot review in a nutshell

When you take away the pricey gem names, flashy websites, jeeps, and ‘feel-good’ goals, what are we left with?

Big promises with overwhelming science to back them up, in my opinion.

These products may sound like cure-all wonder drugs, but they are mostly “superfood” (a made-up word) powders and multi-vitamins with protein. The meal replacement, Transon Nourish, is pitifully low in energy and protein. Tranont Zest is primarily just a stimulant.

Hard pass on Tranmont. Seek health services from licensed professionals who are part of a regulatory body.

Written by Lise Wolyniuk and Review by Abby Langer RD