Unlabeled bottle of clear liquid supplement with a teaspoon

Restore Supplement: A Buyer’s Guide

ByCraig Brockie Last updated

The short answer

The best-known gut supplement sold simply as Restore is Restore Gut Health, a liquid now sold as ION* Gut Support by Biomic Sciences under the ION* Intelligence of Nature brand. The company says the formula did not change with the new name. It is a soil-derived humic extract, 5 mg per teaspoon, in water with sea salt and trace minerals. The research behind it is two cell studies and one small, unpublished company trial that measured urine markers, not digestive symptoms. We found no published human trial showing it improves gut health.

Ultimate Gut is published by Ultimate Health Solutions, which sells a yogurt maker, probiotic capsules and an inulin fiber supplement. None of the products reviewed here are ours, and these brands don’t pay us.

Product details below come from the brand’s ION* Gut Support product page and its Supplement Facts panel (labels checked October 2026). We did not buy, take or test it. Like all dietary supplements, it was not reviewed for safety or effectiveness before sale: the FDA is not authorized to approve dietary supplements before they are marketed.

Which “Restore” is this?

The ION* brand’s Restore page says RESTORE Gut Health is now ION* Gut Support, and that “we have not altered what is actually in the bottle.” The early lab studies on it use the name RESTORE and describe it as a “lignite extract.”

A different product with a similar name is Gundry MD Total Restore, which its maker describes as a blend of 20 pro-digestive ingredients for the gut lining. It has nothing in common with the humic liquid; our Dr. Gundry supplements guide covers that line.

What’s in ION* Gut Support

IngredientAmount per 1 teaspoon (5 mL)What research exists
Humic extract (from ancient soil)5 mgTwo company-linked cell studies; one unpublished 26-person company trial of urine markers
Filtered water, sea salt, trace mineralsNot statedListed as other ingredients; not the studied active

The Supplement Facts panel on the product page lists about 189 servings in the 32 oz bottle. The brand describes the humic extract as coming from soil “roughly 60 million years old” and calls it a byproduct of bacteria digesting ancient plant matter. Directions for adults and children 4 and older are 1 teaspoon three times a day, ideally 30 minutes before meals. The brand says sensitive adults may notice tiredness, headache, bloating, gas or bowel changes, and suggests starting at 1/8 teaspoon.

What the brand claims vs what the evidence shows

The product page says the supplement begins strengthening the gut lining “in as little as 16 minutes,” supports digestion and nutrient absorption, offers “toxin protection,” lowers urinary glyphosate by 23%, and provides “a gentle daily detox” by binding waste. It also says these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.

The lab studies

Both cited papers tested the liquid on cell layers in a dish: rat small-intestine cells and human colon cancer-derived cells, with the extract at a 20% concentration. In the 2016 gluten study, the extract raised electrical resistance across the cell layer, a lab measure of barrier tightness, and blocked a drop caused by a gluten fragment. The 2017 glyphosate study found the same pattern with the weed killer glyphosate.

Neither journal is indexed in PubMed. The 2016 paper says Biomic Sciences funded it and that its authors were employees, consultants or shareholders of the company, and it concludes that human trials are needed. Cell results like these don’t show what happens after you swallow a teaspoon.

The human trial

The brand’s white paper, marked “peer-review publication pending,” describes a double-blind trial in 26 healthy adults aged 18 to 55. Thirteen took 5 mL three times a day with meals for 2 weeks; 13 took a placebo of water, herbal tea and mineral salt. In the supplement group, urine levels of the inflammation marker IL-6 fell 17%, zonulin 12% and glyphosate 23% from each person’s starting point. Only glyphosate was reported as significantly lower than placebo at the end. The authors list the company, ION*, LLC, as their affiliation.

The trial was small, short and did not measure digestive symptoms. Zonulin, a protein linked to gut permeability, was measured with a lab kit, and two independent studies found that widely used commercial zonulin kits may not detect zonulin itself (Scheffler 2018; Ajamian 2019). A separate industry-sponsored trial of Restore, registered in 2017 to look at the microbiome in 20 people, lists its status as unknown with no results posted on ClinicalTrials.gov.

In short, the “16 minutes” and barrier claims come from cell studies, the glyphosate figure comes from one unpublished 2-week trial, and no human trial we found supports the detox, digestion or absorption claims. We found no human studies of this extract indexed in PubMed as of October 2026.

FDA actions

In a May 9, 2024 warning letter to Biomic Sciences, LLC dba ION Intelligence of Nature, the FDA reported findings from a 2023 inspection. For Ion Gut Support, it cited dietary supplement manufacturing issues, including no identity specifications for components and no finished-batch strength specification for the 5 mg of humic extract, along with label format problems. The letter also covered a sinus spray. In 2023 the company recalled ION* Sinus Support, ION* Sinus and Restore Sinus Spray for microbial contamination; the recall did not include gut products. A warning letter records the FDA’s findings at the time; it is not a finding about whether the product works.

Price per serving

On the brand’s site in October 2026, the 32 oz bottle (about 189 teaspoon servings) cost $72, or about $0.38 per teaspoon and $1.14 a day at the labeled three teaspoons. The 16 oz bottle cost $52, about $0.55 per teaspoon and $1.65 a day, assuming half as many servings. The site offers subscription discounts. Prices change, so check before you buy.

Who should talk to a doctor first

The FDA advises talking with a doctor, pharmacist or other health professional before using any supplement. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements adds extra caution if you are pregnant or nursing, before giving supplements to children unless their provider recommends it, before surgery, and before using a supplement in place of a prescribed medicine. The brand page shows no pregnancy guidance. Ongoing digestive symptoms call for a doctor’s visit before a supplement, especially warning signs the NIDDK lists, such as bleeding from the rectum, bloody or black stools, weight loss or anemia.

Alternatives, including food

Beans, vegetables, oats and yogurt as food alternatives
  • Fermented foods: in a 17-week Stanford trial with 18 people per group, a diet high in fermented foods raised gut microbiome diversity and lowered inflammatory markers (Wastyk 2021). See our guide to fermented foods for gut health.
  • Probiotics with strain-level research: our best probiotic guide matches studied strains to specific goals.
  • Other supplement types: gut health supplements compares probiotics, fiber and other options by evidence.
  • For “detox” claims: our colon cleanse article explains what the body already does and what the evidence shows.

Related topics

Sources

This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian before changing your diet, supplements or medication, especially if you have a health condition.

Craig Brockie is the founder of Ultimate Health Solutions, the company behind Ultimate Gut, and the author of Ultimate Health, The Ultimate Gut Health Guide and The Unlimited Probiotics Guide. After injuries and chronic health problems in his twenties that conventional care didn’t resolve, he began researching health on his own and has studied natural health for 30 years. He is not a medical professional, and his articles are general information, not medical advice.

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