A ‘banned liquid jelly drink’ that helps curb snacking and is being sold in Japan has gone viral on social media, with users claiming it is a natural Ozempic.
Called In Tansan, this canned fizzy drink looks like any regular soda you’d find on the shelves of a supermarket.
However, once the contents enter the stomach, a chemical reaction causes the liquid to expand and transform into a semi-solid gel.
It remains in the digestive system “for two to three hours,” which in theory helps induce a feeling of satiety, curbing appetite and the desire to snack between meals.
Social media users have been so impressed with the concept of the drink that they have even labelled it as an alternative to weight loss injections like Ozempic and Wegovy.
A ‘banned liquid gelatin drink’ that helps curb snacking is sweeping Japan and the Internet
However, experts told MailOnline that while the drink is likely safe, it is probably being overhyped.
In Tansan, made by confectionery company Morinaga, comes in two flavours, ‘Dried Grapefruit’ and ‘Lemon’, and sells for ¥1,426 for a box of six, the equivalent of about £1.18 per tin.
Its listed ingredients are a catalogue of chemicals including the sweetener erythritol, rice germ extract, thickeners and flavourings, emulsifiers and artificial colours.
The exact formula for these thickeners and emulsifiers has not been made public, but a video posted by the company shows how the canned liquid gels when exposed to “artificial gastric fluid.”
It also contains a compound called gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, which the body produces naturally and is also found in supplements.
GABA, when produced by the body, has a calming effect on the brain.
Social media users said they were impressed with the drink’s appetite-reducing effect.
Writing on X under the brand name SnaxShot, a user named Andrea simply said ‘Forget Ozempic’ with a photo of the drink.
“The Japanese have created a canned drink to help ‘control hunger’: a liquid that turns into jelly once it reaches the stomach, giving you a ‘feeling of satiety,'” he wrote.
‘Lasts 2-3 hours. Wild.’
A TikTok account linked to the same brand also labeled In Tansan as a “banned liquid jelly drink” with the hashtags “ozempic” and “weight loss.”
Other X users described it as a ‘must-have’ for workers and ‘busy people who don’t have time’ to eat.
But dietician Dr Duane Mellor, from Aston University and the British Dietetic Association, told MailOnline that while the drink was probably safe, it was probably ineffective.
‘It contains thickeners, additives used in other foods that could have a gelling effect in the stomach.
“These are common vegetarian food additives and may give a feeling of satiety, but they are not likely to have a similar effect to that seen with drugs such as semaglutide (the name of the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy),” he said.
He said the chemical list made it look like an ultra-processed food and he would not recommend people drink it or use it as an appetite suppressant.
Made by confectionery company Morinag, Tansan comes in two flavours, “dried grapefruit” and “lemon”, and sells for ¥1,426 for a box of six, equivalent to about £1.18 per tin.
The information distributed by Morinaga says that once the drink reaches the stomach acid, a chemical reaction causes the liquid to expand and transform into a semi-solid gel that helps curb the feeling of hunger.
“From its formulation, it clearly looks like an ultra-processed food and is not likely to help unless someone is following a healthy, energy-restricted diet and increasing their physical activity levels,” she said.
‘So I wouldn’t recommend people use it, but rather focus on trying to make changes to their diet and activity levels.’
Dr Mellor added that some of the ingredients also posed certain health risks.
He said erythritol, the sweetener found in In Tansan, had been linked to cardiovascular disease, but added that this was probably not related to its dietary consumption but to the fact that it is produced directly by the body.
However, he said it could have other health effects, including distressing and embarrassing digestive effects.
“Erythritol is also a laxative and can interfere with the absorption of other medications if consumed in large amounts. It can also cause stomach cramps,” she explained.
Dr Mellor said adding GABA might not achieve anything as there was little evidence that the delicate chemical survived the digestion process to reach the brain.
“GABA is a neurotransmitter, it can theoretically help with relaxation and sleep, but it’s not clear whether dietary supplements can pass from the blood into the brain and there’s little evidence that it works,” he said.
Social media users have been speculating about the exact ingredient that causes the drink’s gelling effect.
Some have theorized that it could be due to the use of psyllium fiber, which is made from the seeds of the Plantago ovata plant, an herb grown primarily in India and used in some appetite-suppressing supplements.
Others have suggested it could be glucomannan, also known as konjac, a fiber made from the roots of the elephant yam that turns water into a gel and is used in a variety of diet foods for this reason.
A reporter, from the website Sora News 24They attempted to create the gelling effect of In Tansan artificially in a jar by adding lemon juice to the drink in an attempt to mimic stomach acid.
However, this was unsuccessful, as the author theorized that the warm temperature of the human stomach or some other missing internal element might be needed.
Social media users were quick to compare the In Tansan drink to the successful weight-loss vaccine Ozempic.
One of them was ‘Andrea’, who wrote under the SnaxShot label ‘forget about Ozempic’.
Some users, commenting under the viral post, theorized that the effect could be due to the addition of known water-absorbing fibers like psyllium.
Other users who posted about the drink said it was a “must have” for workers and “busy people who don’t have time” to eat.
Others on social media said initial supplies of the drink had sold out due to interest.
Professor Gunter Kuhnle, an expert in nutrition and food science at the University of Reading, said comparisons with real weight-loss drugs such as semaglutide were not useful.
“I don’t think they can be compared to a drug that directly affects hunger: they make you feel full, but I don’t know if they will work for a long time,” he said.
Ozempic and Wegovy work by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 that the body sends out when it feels full, suppressing appetite through this mechanism.
These are prescription drugs that doctors should, in theory, only prescribe to obese or very overweight people with associated health problems.
However, there has been growing concern about people taking the vaccines as a cosmetic aid to lose weight.
Semaglutide-based drugs, like any drug, have a number of potential side effects that vary in both frequency and severity, and users also need to take the injections, administered weekly, for life to maintain lost health.
Tansan itself is not promoted as an Ozempic-like product or a weight loss aid, it is simply described as an aid to reduce snacking.