Flat Tummy Tea

Medically Reviewed by Anthony Dugarte, M.D., C.S.C.S

What Is Flat Tummy Tea?

Flat Tummy Tea is an herbal detox brew that claims to help you kick that bloated and sluggish feeling and get back on track. To be clear, by “track,” they’re inferring digestive—not the kind you run on. Although, that’s not to say that Flat Tummy Tea promises that you’ll lose pounds without sweating. In fact, “Work It” is one of the brands nine steps to achieve—you guessed it—a flat tummy.

Beyond smoothing your stomach, Flat Tummy Tea claims to help increase your metabolism, improve digestion, and may boost your energy levels.

Tea detoxes that claim to help you lose water weight and possibly shed a few extra pounds of fat aren’t anything new.

But, while each of these products claim to clear out toxins, improve digestion, and boost energy, Flat Tummy Tea takes a different approach.

Instead of focusing their branding hype on the hope of losing big inches, the Australian-based Flat Tummy Tea targets the 20-30-year-old female market with uber-hip marketing that sounds like you’re talking to a sassy best friend.

And, it’s working: The company, which was founded in 2013, has already accumulated a social media following of over 600,000 by promising to “help babes get back on track by kicking bloat's ass.”

How Does Flat Tummy Tea Claim to Work?

Flat Tummy tea is marketed as a two-step herbal tea detox that comes in two or four-week packs. The two steps include separate teas for morning and night, both of which are made with 100% natural, earth grown herbs.:

Step 1: Activate

Blended from 10 natural ingredients that have been traditionally used to help support your metabolism, the Activate tea claims to help you increase your metabolism, give you an energy boost, and get your digestion ready to start the day, supposedly leading to a flat stomach.

Drink one cup of Flat Tummy Activate Tea every morning with breakfast. To do so, steep the loose leaf blend in hot water for five to seven minutes, then remove your tea strainer and drink.

According to the FAQ on their website, Flat Tummy Tea’s Activate contains the following ingredients:

• Peppermint (leaf)
• Lemon Balm (leaf)
• Liquorice (root)
• Dandelion (leaf and root)
• Cleavers (leaf)
• Fennel (seed)
• Green Tea (leaf)
• Caraway (seed)
• Cardamom (pods)

Step 2: Cleanse

Step two is the Cleanse tea, which the brand claims will detoxify your intestinal tract and reduce your water weight. This step supposedly keeps your flat stomach, which Flat Tummy Tea claims will start to become more svelte within the first few days.

Because the Cleanse tea contains a natural, gentle herb that has a mild cleansing effect, it’s used differently than Activate tea. First, start with a shorter infusion time (3-5 minutes) and work out what’s best for your body. Drink Cleanse tea every other night for the first week, and then every three nights thereafter.

Compared to their Activate blend, Flat Tummy Tea’s Cleanse includes the following ingredients:

• Senna (leaf)
• Peppermint (leaf)
• Cassia Chamaecrista (pods)
• Liquorice (root)
• Caraway (seed)
• Dandelion (root)
• Rhubarb (root)

Using Flat Tummy Tea can be as simple as sipping away morning and night. However, the brand provides nine additional tips, from diet to motivation, to help their tea drinkers achieve an even flatter tummy:

1. Cut back on the veggies: Cut back on vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and cauliflower, since they have sugars and starches that can cause gas, aka bloating.
2. Continue working out. Sweating helps reduce water retention by shedding salts while helping you to maintain (or even shed) weight.
3. Add fiber to your diet: If you have anything built up in your intestines, fiber can help flush it out and reduce bloating.
4. Track your progress: Staying motivated is difficult. Flat Tummy Tea encourages you to take before pictures and pics of your progress along the way. They claim it helps keep you accountable and encourage you to share on social media for extra motivation.
5. Whoops moments: You’re encouraged to stay away from carbs and high-sugar foods by keeping an extra pack of Flat Tummy Tea in your purse (whether morning or night wasn’t mentioned.)
6. Eat less: Flat Tummy Tea encourages you to dish out smaller portions and wait twenty minutes to see if you’re still hungry.
7. Keep drinking to a minimum: They encourage Flat Tummy Tea drinkers to sip water instead, at least while working to get their tummy back to flat.
8. Chill: Flat Tummy Tea encourages relaxing at the end of the week, allowing your body to adjust to the changes.
9. New gear: To keep your motivation high, Flat Tummy Tea suggests users treat themselves to some cool, new workout gear.

According to Flat Tummy Tea’s official website, their tea is delicious and naturally sweet. However, you can add lemon or honey to taste.

Are Flat Tummy Tea’s Ingredients Effective?

Between their active and cleanse formulations, Flat Tummy Tea offers 13 ingredients. Here we will highlight a few of the ingredients backed with the most scientific support.

Single-Herb Treatments

Thought to have many functions including anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and muscle relaxing effects, peppermint has been studied extensively in humans.

In 420 adult patients undergoing a medical throat examination, those that received 10ml of peppermint oil had fewer spasms in the muscles of their throats when compared to the control group. Similarly,

Similarly, 8,269 patients had a procedure in which a thin scope with a light and camera was sent down their throat to look at the stomach and small intestine. Those that received 20mg of peppermint oil had less stomach spasms then the control group.

Senna is thought to be a powerful laxative when supplemented in constipated individuals. In fact, senna was the most studied laxative in a review and found to be superior to other laxatives.

The proposed energy boosting effect of Flat Tummy Tea may be related to the green tea content. This benefit is thought to be made possible by 2 key components of green tea, caffeine and catechin.

In 10 healthy men, green tea extract (50 mg caffeine and 90 mg catechin) increased energy expenditure and fat oxidation over 24-hours.

Treatment With a 2-Herb Blend

Peppermint may work even better when combined with caraway oil - also thought to be effective in heart burn and digestive issues..

In 96 adults with indigestion, those treated with pills containing 90 mg peppermint oil and 50 mg caraway oil experienced reduced stomach pain, as well as decreased feelings of pressure, fullness, and heaviness when compared to placebo over 8-weeks.

Treatment With a Multi-Herb Blend

Adding more ingredients to the blend may be even more effective. Though Flat Tummy Tea has not been specifically investigated, other multi-herb blends with overlapping ingredients offer promising results.

An herbal blend that contained about half of Flat Tummy Tea’s Active Blend ingredients was tested in 120 adults with indigestion. The blend included bitter candy tuft, matricaria flower, peppermint leaves, caraway, licorice root, and lemon balm. Those treated with the herbs reported lower symptom scores over 8-weeks when compared to placebo.

Safety and Side Effects

As the company does not provide details regarding the amount of each ingredient, fully characterizing the safety is challenging, especially with long-term use.

Peppermint, senna, green tea, and caraway were safe in the studies reviewed in the previous section. Additionally, a blend consisting of multiple Flat Tummy Tea Active Blend ingredients was not associated with adverse effects.

The fact that the available literature tested these ingredients at multiple doses and in various methods of delivery (teas, oils, capsules, aromatherapy, etc.) is also more convincing of their safety.

Although Flat Tummy Tea includes ingredients that appear to be generally safe, keep in mind that their Activate contains a small amount of caffeine (about two milligrams per cup) – ingesting later in the evening may cause restlessness. The manufacturer also suggests not to drink their tea if you are pregnant or under 18.

On top of this, Flat Tummy Tea claims that the ingredients in Activate tea may also cause dehydration, so it’s important that you remember to drink plenty of water.

Finally, according to the Flat Tummy Tea website, their cleanses may affect contraceptive pills. Because of this, the company recommends using extra protection while on their program.

Though we did not encounter evidence of these side effects in our literature review, it’s still safest to discuss use with a physician before starting a new supplement.

Pricing and Refund Policy

Flat Tummy Tea is available in two different purchasing options (taken directly from the company’s website):

FT FOUR (four-week pack) $36.75.00 USD

• 1 x Activate tea (four weeks worth)
• 1 x Cleanse tea (four weeks worth
• 1 x Flat Tummy Tea zipper bag
• 1 x Flyer

FT TWO (two-week pack) $27.00 USD

• 1 x Activate tea (two weeks worth)
• 1 x Cleanse tea (two weeks worth)
• 1 x Flat Tummy Tea zipper bag
• 1 x Flyer

Note that Flat Tummy Tea doesn’t come with a strainer. However, these are available at every grocery store and can be purchased for under five dollars.

Shipping to the United States is free, or $5.95 if you choose priority mail. There’s also free shipping throughout Australia. The rest of the world can purchase Flat Tummy Tea for delivery at $7.95.

Flat Tummy Tea offers no refunds unless you receive a faulty product, in which case you must notify the manufacturer within seven days. Again, the manufacturer doesn’t offer refunds for lost shipments or dissatisfaction—once it leaves their warehouse, you’re out of luck.

Our Bottom Line: Is Flat Tummy Tea Worth Purchasing?

Without the company offering information detailing the amount of each ingredient included in their blends, it’s challenging to describe the safety or efficacy of this product.

What does work in Flat Tummy Tea’s favor is the fact that they do include some ingredients that have been individually tested in human subjects and shown to be effective in reducing stomach spasms and sensations of fullness, relieving constipation, and boosting energy.

Additionally, a multi-herb blend containing some of their ingredients was proven to safely reduce the symptoms of indigestion.

Available data from testing in different doses, combinations of herbs, methods of delivery, and patient populations does provide some comfort that these ingredients are safe, though it does not confirm.

The manufacturers are fairly clear that they do not promise drastic weight loss, but instead, only helping reduce water weight and bloat. So, if you’re looking for something to help you drop ten pounds or more, you’ll likely be disappointed by anything other than a healthy diet and exercise.

On the other hand, if you enjoy hot tea in the morning and at night, and are looking to increase your regularity, you might find Flat Tummy Tea worthwhile. Even still, their prices are slightly steep for tea.

With expectations in mind, the complete lack of refund offered by Flat Tummy Tea’s manufacturer makes us hesitant to recommend a purchase, since it doesn’t appear that the company stands behind their products after they’ve gotten your money.