1 DB Overdrive Review: Worth the Money?
Here’s our 1st Phorm 1 Db Overdrive Review, as well as our coverage of 1 DB Overdrive Fastpack reviews. 1 DB Overdrive is a fat burner supplement claimed to naturally enhance your body’s ability to burn fat and control cravings. Are these claims accurate? How will 1 DB Overdrive work for you? Let’s start with the article at a glance.
Pros
- B vitamins for energy
- The caffeine+L-Theanine combo sustains focus and reduces jitters
- Contains good carb blockers
- Some ingredients work to reduce estrogen and cortisol
Cons
- Lacks a better natural thermogenic and an appetite suppressant
- Hidden ingredient doses prevent us from knowing if they’re effective
- Contains the aggressive stimulant Synephrine
[1 DB OVERDRIVE REVIEW SUMMARY] 1DB Overdrive should give you results to some extent. You may notice powerful effects shortly after taking this supplement – especially in terms of energy levels and motivation. However, there’s a reason why 1 DB Overdrive is so strong: it contains a number of aggressive stimulants. These will make you jittery and potentially cause other side effects when combined, which means you’ll need to be careful with your caffeine intake throughout the day. What’s more, 1 DB Overdrive consists of 3 proprietary blends which prevent us from assessing if the ingredients are safely and effectively dosed for long-term use. Since it’s priced at $70 for only 20 servings, we don’t currently rate it as one of the very best fat burners today.
What do we recommend?
1-DB Overdrive Review – The Basics
1 DB Overdrive is a “next-generation” thermogenics supplement from the well-known company 1st Phorm. It’s a new iteration of their previous fat burner formula. It’s meant to be more effective at burning away unwanted fat, curbing those nagging food cravings, and making the dieting process easier for you mentally.
So, does it really work? Let’s jump straight into the meat of the matter – aka, the ingredients – to find out.
Ingredients
Each capsule of 1-Db Overdrive supplies you with the following ingredients:
- Vitamin B3 (25mg)
- Vitamin B6 (20mg)
- Vitamin B12 (125mcg)
- GSD Complex (374mg)
- BioTherm (128mg)
- Balance Blend (100mg)
As you’ll notice, 1-DB Overdrive has these fancy-sounding ingredient blends, such as “GSD Complex and Biotherm”.
These are also known as proprietary blends.
These proprietary blends contain multiple ingredients, however, the doses of each ingredient in the blend isn’t shown. You’re only able to see the total amount of the blend with all of the ingredients combined.
This isn’t good for two reasons. One, you don’t know how effective the ingredients in the proprietary blend are. Second, you really don’t know how safe they are either. They can be underdosed, or worse, over-dosed, without you being able to tell.
As the majority of the ingredients in 1-DB Overdrive are inside these proprietary blends, it’s a reason for concern. Here’s a closer look at each ingredient:
Vitamin B3
Also known as niacin, this ingredient works to enhance your cardiovascular function, along with improving cholesterol markers. However, it’s not an ideal addition to a fat burner. For the simple fact that it’s been shown to worsen insulin sensitivity when supplemented.
In case you didn’t know, insulin sensitivity is what governs your blood sugar levels after you eat a meal. The worse it is, the bigger the energy crashes you’ll have throughout the day. Not only that, but poor insulin sensitivity makes it easy to store body fat, and very difficult to get rid of it.
Vitamin B6
Now, this is better. Although it doesn’t worsen insulin sensitivity like vitamin B3, vitamin B6 can actually help with areas of cognitive functioning – such as mood and mental energy. It doesn’t boost fat directly, but it can help keep you more mentally ‘in the zone’ so to speak while you’re cutting.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is best known for boosting energy levels in people who’re deficient in it. This effect is mainly achieved by enhancing red blood cell production as well as increasing oxygen supply to your brain and bodily tissues.
It’s not a noticeable boost, unless you’re severely deficient in the vitamin. It also doesn’t help with fat loss, other than possibly increasing your energy levels in the gym so you can train harder and burn more calories.
GSD Complex
This is the first of three proprietary blends in 1st Phorm 1-DB Overdrive. It consists of these ingredients:
- Caffeine Anhydrous – the most well known stimulant in the world, caffeine enhances your brain’s and body’s capabilities for a few hours after ingestion. It helps you have more energy, it motivates you to stick to your diet, and it kicks up your metabolism into higher gear helping you to burn more calories. However, as many of us know, caffeine comes with a dark side. Taking too much of the drug is counterproductive; leading to potentially unsafe side effects. The problem is, we don’t know the caffeine dosage in 1 DB Overdrive.
- L-Theanine – theanine is a nice compound to add here, because it helps to smoothen some of the negative effects of caffeine (e.g. jitters and energy crashes). Theanine has some benefits of its own, mainly, improved mood. It does not help with fat loss, though.
- Theacrine – this is a naturally occurring organic compound that’s similar to caffeine in structure and effects. Although the evidence is still very sparse, the existing research looks very promising; showing that theacrine leads to less tolerance than caffeine (meaning you can take it longer without the diminishment in effects). However, it’s known to have a sedative effect at lower doses, and the dose in 1 DB Overdrive isn’t known.
- Sulbutiamine – Sulbutiamine is a useful supplement for those suffering from Lyme or other infections. Consisting of two thiamine (vitamin b1) molecules bound by a sulfur group, it’s been shown promise at alleviating fatigue associated with chronic infections. That said, it has no use in a fat burner supplement!
- Synephrine – Synephrine (also known as Bitter Orange)is a compound structurally similar to the banned substance Ephedra. Although it can significantly ramp up stress hormones, it’s no safer than Ephedra in terms of causing heart palpitations, high blood pressure and other side effects that might make you think twice about taking it.
- CDP-Choline – This is a ‘nootropic’ compound that can enhance your cognitive function. It’s not very effective at burning away unwanted fat, though. We’re starting to wonder, is 1-DB Overdrive really a fat loss pill, or some kind of a mixed-bag-of-everything supplement?
- Huperzine A – Another disappointment. Huperzine A has the ability to boost your brain’s acetylcholine levels, which leads to better memory and recall. However, long-term supplementation may not be safe, plus it has no fat loss benefits.
BioTherm
Here we come to the second of the three proprietary blends in 1 DB Overdrive. It contains the following ingredients:
- Green Coffee Extract – Contains a group of molecules known as “Chrologenic Acid,” which has been shown to modestly benefit heart health and weight loss. Very few studies have been done on humans with this ingredient, however, what we know so far is that green coffee extract (and its compounds) may reduce the absorption of carbs you eat from food.
- Green Tea Extract – Green Tea Extract is a great ingredient that can not only increase your metabolism. It also boosts antioxidant activity in your body by protecting cells from harmful free radicals. In doing so, it can lead to better energy levels and overall health. It’s a shame we don’t know its dose in 1-DB Overdrive; you need the right amount of green tea extract for it to work.
- Coleus Forskholii Extract – This is also known as Forskolin. It’s been shown to boost levels of a molecule “cyclic adenosine phosphate” (cAMP). When elevated, cAMP can help promote fat loss while also protecting the body from inflammation. Sounds great, right? What’s disappointing is that these effects aren’t yet proven to work in humans, as all of the research so far has been done on a petri dish and test tubes in a lab.
- Hordenine – This is a stimulatory compound, much like Synephrine and caffeine. It works to increase the levels of available stress hormone noradrenaline. Not good. Combining this many stimulants raises the risk of side effects and can make you too jittery to function normally during the day.
- Evodiamine – This is an herb with fruit (berries) that have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to increase the perception of warmth during cold months. Don’t get fooled though, it has no thermogenic properties and hasn’t been proven to lead to weight loss in any way.
- Cayenne Pepper Extract – Now this IS thermogenic. Cayenne Pepper raises your core body temperature which forces the metabolism to work harder in order to bring the temperature back to normal. This naturally makes you burn a few extra calories per hour. But much like all other ingredients in 1 DB Overdrive’s proprietary blends, we don’t know its dosage.
Balance Blend
- Ashwagandha – Ashwagandha works to reduce stress hormones like cortisol from wreaking havoc in the body. Keep in mind that it doesn’t burn fat, though.
- Diindolylmethane (DIM) – DIM is a compound from broccoli. It’s thought to have antioxidant and general health properties. Some studies also suggest it may reduce estrogen levels in the body, leading to higher testosterone. With more testosterone you’ll build muscle and burn fat more easily. However, the DIM dose is very important factor in determining how effective this ingredient will be. Too much and it’s been shown to actually raise estrogen levels; too little, and it won’t have any effects.
- Rhodiola Extract – Rhodiola is an adaptogen, much like Ashwagandha. But whereas Ashwagandha lowers cortisol and is generally anti-stress (and calming, in some cases), Rhodiola is more anti-fatigue and physically energizing. It’s a good ingredient, but it isn’t proven to stimulate weight loss.
Anything Missing?
Although 1 DB Overdrive’s proprietary blends are packed with ingredients, many of them are pointless – aka, not effective for burning fat.
The formula is missing a proven appetite suppressant such as Glucomannan to help with food cravings. This can be a game-changer in terms of sticking to your diet and seeing your goals through.
1 DB Overdrive is also deprived of blood sugar regulators such as chromium, which is a trace mineral that can help prevent weight gain.
Dosage Instructions
The directions for 1 DB Overdrive is to take 1 capsule early in the day to start with. After you’ve assessed your tolerance, you can take another capsule in the early afternoon, 30-45 minutes before your meal with a full glass of water.
Once you’ve been taking this supplement for a while and feel comfortable on it, the manufacturers say you can increase the dose to maximum of 2 capsules, two times per day.
Be warned though, one capsule of 1 DB Overdrive could have 300mg+ of caffeine for all we can tell. Coupled with other stimulants in this product, taking 2 capsules, twice per day can cause negative reactions. You shouldn’t take 1DB Overdrive too close to bedtime as it will interfere with your sleep.
Side Effects
1 DB Overdrive does come with a risk of side effects. Two main reasons why:
- It combines multiple stimulants, including the extremely aggressive Synephrine (aka, bitter orange peel extract)
- The dosages are unknown since the ingredients are masked behind proprietary blends
[RELATED: The 5 Best Thermogenic Supplements We Recommend]
The high-dose combination of caffeine, Synephrine and other stimulants in 1-Db Overdrive could lead to the following side effects:
- Insomnia
- Racing heart
- Anxiety episodes
- High blood pressure
Always, always make sure to speak with your doctor before using so many stimulants at once! This product is no joke. It’s only for those who know they can tolerate aggressive amounts of stimulants, and those who like living on the edge.
Price and Value for Money?
One bottle (80 caps) of 1-DB Overdrive costs $69.99 on the 1st Phorm official website. If you take the recommended 2 capsules twice per day, this means it will only last you 20 days.
Even if you just take one capsule per day, it’s a poor value for money for a couple of reasons. One, it uses deceiving proprietary blends which don’t tell you how much of the ingredient you’re getting. Secondly, they contain high amounts of stimulants and so taking more than one capsule per day is out of the question for most people.
You might say; well then, why not then just take one capsule? Because taking a fat burner just once per day means the effects between the doses will wear off, and you won’t stay in a constant fat burning mode. It’s a catch-22 situation. Take multiple capsules throughout the day and you risk severe side effects (and it gets very expensive to use); take only one capsule per day and it won’t do much for you at all.
Pros and Cons
Here’s a quick rundown of all the good and bad things we’ve found about the product in this 1 DB Overdrive review.
Pros
- B vitamins are beneficial for energy
- Ashwagandha and Rhodiola can help with stress
- Contains cayenne pepper and caffeine, both of which are great for increasing the metabolism
Cons
- Combines multiple potentially unsafe stimulants
- Uses proprietary blends which don’t disclose ingredient doses inside
- Doesn’t reduce appetite or food cravings because it’s missing an appetite suppressant
- High price
- Skewed serving schedule
[Related: The Year’s 5 Leading Men’s Fat Burners]
What About 1 DB Overdrive Fastpack?
Here’s a quick 1 DB Overdrive Fastpack review. 1 DB Overdrive Fastpack is a 3-product bundle consisting of 1-DB Overdrive fat burner, Thyrodrive Thyroid supplement, and Opti-Greens supplements. It’s meant to be taken together to enhance fat loss and general health – more than 1-DB Overdrive alone can do. The entire bundle costs about $150 on the official website.
Using 1 DB Overdrive Fastpack is marketed to help you:
- Maximize Fat Loss
- Control Appetite and Curb Cravings
- Extreme Energy & Focus
- Optimize Digestion
So, does it really work? And is it worth the money? It’s not in our eyes! As we’ve repeated, 1-DB Overdrive is a potentially unsafe product to start with. Then there’s the Thyro-Drive, a type of thyroid/metabolism supplement that, low and behold, is made up of proprietary blends much like other products in the bundle. In other words, you don’t know what exactly you’re paying for. There are some good ingredients in Thyro-Drive (e.g. L-Tyrosine for mental focus) but it also contains raspberry ketones and a bunch of other unproven ingredients that only add dead weight to the supplement.
You should bear in mind that combining so many ingredients across these three supplements (especially the ingredients in 1-DB Overdrive which include highly risky stimulants) can drastically increase the risk of side effects.
Conclusion to 1 DB Overdrive Review
So that concludes our 1 DB Overdrive review.
This fat burner is a mixed bag of both good and bad. Unfortunately, more bad than good. It contains a few great ingredients in green tea, caffeine and green coffee bean, but there are too many stimulants in it and it’s dishonest with the use of proprietary blends.
For these reasons, and due to the fact that it’s highly-priced and only has 1-2 servings per day, it’s not something we would recommend for most people who want safe and sustainable fat loss.
What’s Better?
We do independent analysis on over 40 fat burners every year, searching for the most effective, science-backed formula on the market.
Some of our criteria include:
- Must support fat burning naturally and safely
- 100% clean, legal ingredients
- Energy, Focus & Metabolism
- Effective Appetite Suppression
- Brand Trust
- Value for money
-See the 5 Highest Rated Fat Burners-
