Guide

Does ClearDose work? The enzyme claim, the studies behind it and the terms

ClearDose Digestive Enzymes is a 60-capsule bottle from ClearDose LLC of Houston, Texas, sold on its own site and on Amazon. Each capsule carries six enzymes printed with activity units, plus three Lactobacillus species with no strains and no counts. What sets it apart is the pitch: its ads say chronic diarrhea and IBS-D come from too few digestive enzymes. This page sets that claim against the studies, then covers the label, the reviews and the terms.

What ClearDose is, and what the label prints

The label appears on the brand’s Amazon listing, not on its own product page. One capsule contains:

The 2,500 HUT is the protease activity. The 400 mg covers the protease and the three bacteria together, so no amount and no CFU count is printed for any organism, and none of the three carries a strain designation. The brand’s About page says there are no proprietary blends; the label prints Makzyme-Pro as a named blend. There is no amylase.

There is no trial of ClearDose

We found nothing on PubMed or ClinicalTrials.gov for ClearDose or Makzyme-Pro. The bottle says “Ingredients based on clinical studies” and the site cites “87% of consistent users” improving, but none names a study, sample size or method.

The ad claim against the fecal-elastase studies

The ads say: “Up to 68% of people with severe IBS-D have some level of enzyme insufficiency.” The brand names no source, and we did not find 68% in any study that measured it. Those studies use fecal elastase, a stool test of pancreatic enzyme output, with below 100 µg/g as severe insufficiency:

The Australian study “failed to confirm the high prevalence” of the UK one. A clinic series found most people referred for an abnormal fecal elastase had no malabsorption (Wilcox and Tran, 2026). Across the three, severe insufficiency was 2 to 6 percent of patients.

How it differs from prescription pancreatic enzymes

In the UK study, patients with severe insufficiency improved in stool frequency, consistency and pain after pancreatic enzyme supplementation, and patients with normal levels did not. The Argentine study reports similar improvement in its 5%. Those are small studies of prescription pancreatic extract in people whose insufficiency had been measured. ClearDose is a supplement of fungal and fruit enzymes with no amylase on the label, and no study compares the two. We found no randomized placebo-controlled trial of a fungal and plant multi-enzyme supplement for bloating or diarrhea in people without diagnosed insufficiency.

The evidence for the ingredients

Alpha-galactosidase, 300 GALU a capsule. In a randomized crossover of 8 healthy volunteers eating 420 g of cooked beans, 300 or 1,200 GalU lowered the symptom score, and 1,200 also lowered breath hydrogen and flatulence (Di Stefano et al., 2007). The label’s 300 is the lower dose. In 52 children with gas-related symptoms, two weeks reduced global distress against placebo (p=0.02; Di Nardo et al., 2013). Both concern gas from bean sugars, not diarrhea.

Lactase, papain and bromelain. Lactase helps where lactose is the trigger. The one randomized trial of a papaya preparation we found used a liquid (Caricol) and reported better constipation and bloating in early returners (Muss et al., 2013). We found no trial of papain or bromelain capsules for diarrhea.

The three Lactobacillus species. The 2021 ACG guideline suggests against probiotics for global IBS symptoms (conditional, very low-quality evidence), and the 2020 AGA guideline found too little evidence to recommend them. A 2014 meta-analysis of 43 trials found they lowered persisting IBS symptoms (RR 0.79, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.89) but said the best species and strains “remains unclear” (Ford et al., 2014). L. plantarum 299v reduced pain and bloating in 214 IBS patients over four weeks (Ducrotté et al., 2012); the ClearDose label does not name 299v.

Diarrhea after gallbladder removal

Some ads target people without a gallbladder. A review of 21 studies found diarrhea after gallbladder removal in 13.3% of 3,476 patients, and its authors advise early investigation for bile acid diarrhea (Farrugia et al., 2022). Digestive enzymes do not bind bile acids. The brand’s ox bile product was not assessed.

How to take ClearDose

The label says one capsule twice a day, 20 to 30 minutes before a meal: two a day, 30 days per bottle. A brand-site graphic reads “2 capsules per serving”, which does not match the label’s serving size of one. The brand says “as little as 4 weeks”; its refund terms count 60 days of use.

Side effects and who should not take it

The bottle’s warnings panel is too small to read in the photos we found. The brand’s FAQ advises talking to a doctor or pharmacist first if you take prescription medicines or manage a medical condition. We found no pregnancy, breastfeeding or age statement. Bromelain and papain come from pineapple and papaya. Reviewers report discomfort and diarrhea within hours of the first capsule, diarrhea turning to constipation after a month, and diarrhea after gallbladder surgery that got worse.

What the reviews say

The brand’s pages and the independent platforms give different totals:

The brand’s reviews page says “4.7” from “190+” reviews, and the product page says 4.4 on Trustpilot, which shows 4.3; we could not tell which brand total is real. Five-star ratings are 59% on Amazon and 81% on Trustpilot (a company-claimed profile that notes it hasn’t replied to negative reviews); one-star are 9% on both. We did not read Reddit.

Reviewers praise fewer urgent trips after gallbladder removal or with IBS-D, an effect within days, and quick support replies. They complain of no effect, symptoms that got worse, and the pre-meal timing on an erratic schedule.

Who is speaking in the ads

The long first-person ads run under Facebook Pages such as “Digestive Health News” and “Ruth Myers - Gut Health News”, with narrators who describe themselves as a gastroenterologist of 40 years or a surgical nurse of 22 years. The linked advertorial is bylined “Dr. Michael Brennan, Board Certified Gastroenterologist”. We could not match that byline to a person: a web search found no independent page, and a federal NPI registry search for Michael Brennan returned 49 entries, none listed as a gastroenterologist (not a state medical board check). The About page is signed “Brandon, Founder” with no surname, and nothing we found ties these names together.

The subscription and refund terms

When the brand page loads, Buy 2 Get 1 Free is selected with the Subscribe & Save box already ticked, every 3 months, at $95.40, labeled “No commitment, cancel anytime”. Unticking it shows one-time prices, and a single bottle can be bought once at $53 or on Amazon at $44. The written refund policy says to use ClearDose as directed for 60 days and contact the brand within 90 days of delivery; stopping earlier means “the guarantee does not apply”, apart from a goodwill refund of up to 25% if a doctor advised stopping. Each shipment is covered by the guarantee, and contacting the brand before an order ships cancels it. The product page, the Amazon image and the ads say “no questions asked”.

On Trustpilot, reviewers describe refund requests with no reply, a card-issuer refund after the company allegedly stalled past 90 days, and a canceled subscription charged anyway. The advertorial states “$79 per bottle” after a 72-hour window; the site lists $53.

Who ClearDose is for

• Someone with gas after bean-type meals, where the label’s 300 GALU matches the lower dose tested.
• Someone whose doctor has traced symptoms to lactose.
• Someone who wants enzymes and three Lactobacillus species in one capsule and accepts that strains and counts are not printed.

For loose stools in general, the loose stools and IBS-D guide goes cause by cause, and Do digestive enzymes work? covers what enzymes can and cannot do. Enzyme-only catalog pages include NOW Super Enzymes and Enzymedica Digest Gold.

Cost

One bottle is $53.00 on the brand site ($1.77 a day at two capsules; $47.70 or $1.59 subscribed) and $44.00 on Amazon ($1.47). Three bottles are $106.00 one time ($1.18 a day) or $95.40 subscribed ($1.06); five bottles are $159.00 ($1.06) or $143.10 subscribed ($0.95). Shipping is listed as free on the brand page.

The products in this catalog

Common questions

Sources

• Leeds JS, Hopper AD, Sidhu R, et al. "Some patients with irritable bowel syndrome may have exocrine pancreatic insufficiency." Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2010;8(5):433–438. doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2009.09.032
• Talley NJ, Holtmann G, Nguyen QN, et al. "Undiagnosed pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and chronic pancreatitis in functional GI disorder patients with diarrhea or abdominal pain." Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2017;32(11):1813–1817. doi.org/10.1111/jgh.13791
• Olmos JI, Piskorz MM, Litwin N, et al. "Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency is Undiagnosed in Some Patients with Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome Using the Rome IV Criteria." Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 2022;67(12):5666–5675. doi.org/10.1007/s10620-022-07568-8
• Wilcox CM, Tran H. "Fecal elastase measurement: beware; a cautionary tale." American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 2026;371(1):71–75. doi.org/10.1016/j.amjms.2025.10.015
• Di Stefano M, Miceli E, Gotti S, et al. "The effect of oral alpha-galactosidase on intestinal gas production and gas-related symptoms." Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 2007;52(1):78–83. doi.org/10.1007/s10620-006-9296-9; Di Nardo G, Oliva S, Ferrari F, et al. "Efficacy and tolerability of α-galactosidase in treating gas-related symptoms in children." BMC Gastroenterology, 2013;13:142. doi.org/10.1186/1471-230X-13-142
• Farrugia A, Attard JA, Khan S, et al. "Postcholecystectomy diarrhoea rate and predictive factors: a systematic review of the literature." BMJ Open, 2022;12(2):e046172. doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046172
• Lacy BE, Pimentel M, Brenner DM, et al. "ACG Clinical Guideline: Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome." American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2021;116(1):17–44. doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000001036; Su GL, Ko CW, Bercik P, et al. "AGA Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Role of Probiotics in the Management of Gastrointestinal Disorders." Gastroenterology, 2020;159(2):697–705. doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2020.05.059
• Ford AC, Quigley EM, Lacy BE, et al. "Efficacy of prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics in irritable bowel syndrome and chronic idiopathic constipation: systematic review and meta-analysis." American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2014;109(10):1547–1561. doi.org/10.1038/ajg.2014.202
• Ducrotté P, Sawant P, Jayanthi V. "Clinical trial: Lactobacillus plantarum 299v (DSM 9843) improves symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome." World Journal of Gastroenterology, 2012;18(30):4012–4018. doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v18.i30.4012; Muss C, Mosgoeller W, Endler T. "Papaya preparation (Caricol) in digestive disorders." Neuroendocrinology Letters, 2013;34(1):38–46. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23524622
• Brand pages: label (Amazon listing image), directions, claims, refund policy, advertorial and price (trycleardose.com/products/cleardose-ibs-relief, refund policy); Amazon listing: price and ratings (amazon.com/dp/B0GJ773GPZ); Trustpilot: trustpilot.com/review/trycleardose.com