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New Lab Study: Feel Great More Than Doubles the Body's Natural GLP-1 Signal

  • 1 day ago
  • 5 min read
Microscopic image of a human nerve cell (neuron) with branching extensions and surrounding cells.

A human-cell study found that Feel Great (Unimate® + Balance) more than doubled the body's own GLP-1 response — and produced 99.96% less gas than a standard fiber in the same model.


GLP-1 is the hormone behind Ozempic®, Wegovy®, and Mounjaro® — the most talked-about names in metabolic health right now. What often gets left out of that conversation: GLP-1 isn't something a lab invented. It's a hormone your own gut already produces every time you eat.


Prescription GLP-1 medications work by replacing that signal with an injectable synthetic copy. Feel Great takes a different approach: it's designed to help support the gut cells that already make GLP-1, so your body's own signal does more of the work. No needle, no prescription, no synthetic hormone — and, importantly, no claim to replace medication that's appropriate for some people under a doctor's care. Learn more about how GLP-1 works in the body →


What the new study found


Researchers ran the Feel Great combination — Unimate® yerba mate polyphenols plus Balance slow-fermenting fiber — through a validated lab model of the human gut (a "bionic reactor" seeded with a live human gut microbial community), then exposed human L-cells — the cells that produce GLP-1 — to the metabolites the gut microbes generated.


The result: GLP-1 secretion rose 107%, from 13.3 to 27.6 pmol/L, following gut microbial fermentation — more than double the body's baseline GLP-1 signal in this model.


For context: a 2025 peer-reviewed study in Nutrients tested Unimate® on its own and reported a GLP-1 increase in the range of roughly 40–50%, and found that yerba mate couldn't stimulate L-cells directly — it had to be broken down by gut microbes into active metabolites first. This new study builds on that finding: the larger effect isn't from yerba mate alone. It's the combination of Unimate® and Balance — roughly double the increase reported for yerba mate by itself. (Because these are two separate studies run in different models, treat that comparison as directional, not a head-to-head clinical result.)


How the combination works: two signals, two timelines


Feel Great appears to work on two different clocks, which may help explain why the combined effect outpaced yerba mate alone.


Early: polyphenol priming (0–6 hours)


Gut microbes rapidly convert Unimate®'s yerba mate polyphenols into bioactive caffeic acid — the study measured a 5-fold increase in caffeic acid within 6 hours of fermentation. Yerba mate's benefit appears to stay locked until gut microbes free it through fermentation.


Later: the SCFA response (24–48 hours)


Balance fiber is designed to ferment slowly and reach the lower colon, where GLP-1-producing cells are concentrated. There, it feeds bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) — compounds known to bind L-cell receptors (FFAR2/FFAR3) and support GLP-1 release:


  • Butyrate: 6.5 mM at 48 hours — within the 1–10 mM range shown to stimulate GLP-1 in prior research.

  • Propionate: 32.9 mM at 48 hours — a roughly 16-fold increase in the final 24 hours.

  • Total SCFAs: 64.91 mmol/L — about 8× more than standard FOS fiber produced in the same model.


Why it's more comfortable: 99.96% less gas


Fiber that feeds the gut this actively often comes with a familiar cost: bloating and gas — a common reason people stop taking prebiotic fiber. In this model, Feel Great produced meaningfully less of both compared with standard FOS fiber:


  • Hydrogen gas: 99.96% lower — the gas most associated with bloating.

  • Hydrogen sulfide: reduced more than 96%.


The likely mechanism: polyphenols are processed through a metabolic pathway that doesn't generate gas, and they appear to slow the fiber's fermentation rate enough to avoid the rapid gas spikes associated with less comfortable prebiotics.


Why this looks like a real signal, not a stress response


The study also tracked cell health throughout. Cell viability stayed above 88% at the active concentration — meaning the GLP-1 increase reflects cells producing and releasing more GLP-1, not cells multiplying or reacting to stress.


What this study is — and isn't


This is laboratory (in vitro) data: a validated human-cell and human-gut model, not a human clinical trial. It shows the mechanism working on the actual cells that produce GLP-1; it does not measure weight loss or any other outcome in a living person. Feel Great™ is a food supplement, not a drug — it contains no GLP-1 and isn't a substitute for prescription medication. Natural support and prescription GLP-1 medications serve different purposes and aren't in competition: some people are well suited to a natural, food-based approach; others are appropriate candidates for medication under medical supervision. Both can be part of supporting metabolic health.


Feel Great and GLP-1 medications: different tools



GLP-1 medications

Feel Great

Approach

Replace the hormone from outside

Support the body's own production

What it is

Synthetic GLP-1 agonist

Food-based fiber + polyphenols

Delivery

Injection

Oral, daily

GLP-1 source

Manufactured

Produced by your own gut cells

Status

Prescription only

Food supplement


Feel Great isn't positioned as a substitute for medication — it's built to help support a process your body already runs.


The bottom line


Your gut already produces GLP-1 — for most people, it's likely running under capacity. In this human-cell laboratory study, Feel Great™ more than doubled that natural output, and did so with far less of the gas that makes some fiber supplements hard to stick with.


Not a drug. Not an injection. Support for a system your body already has.


Frequently asked questions


Is Feel Great the same as Ozempic®?


No. Feel Great is a food supplement that may help support the body's own GLP-1 production. It contains no GLP-1 and is not a drug, prescription medication, or substitute for one.


Can a supplement really increase GLP-1 naturally?


Research on fiber fermentation and plant polyphenols suggests certain compounds may help support the body's natural GLP-1 response. This study looked at that mechanism directly in human gut cells; it hasn't yet been tested in a human clinical trial.


Does yerba mate increase GLP-1?


A 2025 study in Nutrients found yerba mate polyphenols may support GLP-1 release, but only after gut microbes metabolize them — yerba mate didn't affect L-cells directly on its own.


Was this tested in humans?


The gut fermentation model used a live human gut microbial community, and the cells exposed to its metabolites were human L-cells. It's an in vitro (laboratory) study, not a clinical trial in living people.


Is Feel Great a substitute for prescription weight-loss medication?


No. Feel Great is a food supplement designed to support the body's own metabolic processes. It isn't intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and it isn't a

substitute for medical advice or prescribed treatment.



This material is for informational purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Results described come from a laboratory (in vitro) fermentation and cell model and do not represent clinical outcomes in humans. Individual results vary.


Reference:

Cooper-Leavitt E.T., et al. "The Incretin Effect of Yerba Maté (Ilex paraguariensis) Is Partially

Dependent on Gut-Mediated Metabolism of Ferulic Acid." Nutrients. 2025;17(4):625.



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