Medically Proven Weight Loss Supplements

Medically Proven Weight Loss Supplements

Medically Proven Weight Loss Supplements: A study that sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a wide selection of popular weight loss supplements sold in pharmacy or drugstore, found no evidence that they facilitate weight loss beyond the effect placebo.

Two studies presented at the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm, Sweden, found that they were no more effective than the fake supplements with which they were compared.

"There is a plethora of dietary supplements claiming to have effects on weight loss through all sorts of mechanisms of action, including fat magnets, mobilizers, drainers, and solvents, as well as appetite controllers. those who 'stimulate the metabolism', carbohydrate blockers, etc. The market is important, but unlike drugs, the effectiveness of these supplements does not have to be proven so that they can be sold "explains Dr. Thomas Ellrott, Director of the Institute of Nutrition and Psychology at the University of Göttingen, Germany, who led one of the studies. "Few of these supplements have gone through advanced clinical studies, and the product landscape is continually changing, so we need to test them in rigorous scientific studies to determine if they are making a profit. "

Elliott's group tested nine popular supplements against placebo in a randomized controlled trial. The supplements tested were L-Carnitine, Polyglucosamine, Cabbage Powder, Guarana Seed Powder, Bean Extract, Konjac Extract, Fiber Pills, Sodium Alginate Formulas and Extracts. selected plants.

The researchers bought their food supplements from German pharmacies, changed the packaging and product names to make them neutral, and rewrote the information in the leaflets to eliminate any reference to the product name. They then gave 189 obese or overweight consumers either the real products or fake pills, each week for eight weeks, in the doses recommended by the manufacturers. Some of the products gave dietary advice, while others did not, so the researchers gave exactly the same advice as written in the product leaflet.

The average weight loss was between 1kg and 2kg for 7 of the products, depending on the supplement, and was 1.2kg in the placebo group. No statistically significant difference in weight loss was found for any of these products when compared to a placebo.

"Most of the previous studies have looked at just one product, which is the first to include nine supplements with different mechanisms of proposed action, and we have not found a single product that is more effective than placebo pills in terms of weight loss over the two months of the study, regardless of their purported mode of action, "says Elliott, adding that if there is an indication for the use of diet pills, consumers should instead opt for regulated obesity medications with proven effects (under medical prescription).

In a second study presented at the congress, Dr. Igho Onakpoya of the University of Exeter in the UK led the first systematic review of all existing reviews of clinical studies on supplements for slimming. The analysis summarizes the state of evidence from these studies involving nine popular dietary supplements including chromium picolinate, ephedrine, bitter orange, conjugated linoleic acid, calcium, guar gum, glucomannan, chitosan, and green tea.

"We have not found evidence that dietary supplements studied are an appropriate treatment to reduce weight," says Onakpoya. "Annual sales of food supplements exceed $ 13 billion In Western Europe, sales of weight loss products, without medical prescription, exceeded one billion euros in 2009. People think that these supplements are a quick way to lose weight, and they can sometimes spend astronomical sums of money on their purchase, but they could be quickly disappointed, frustrated and depressed if their expectations of weight loss do not materialize in the long run. "

Onakpoya states that some of the supplements included in the study caused side effects. However, more research is needed, he adds, because very few studies have been long-term, and the number of patients in most of these studies is small, factors that together limit the conclusions that can be made. drawn about the effectiveness and safety of these dietary supplements.