The Truth About Weight Loss Supplements Part I

They have names that sound like some sort of pharmaceutical product, or names that mean melt or burn. They all promise dramatic weight loss one way or another and half show before and after pictures in their advertisements. “World’s 1st Fat Burning Drink”, “Beyond any female fat burner you’ve ever tried” and “I lost 31lbs” are a few headlines I found advertised in a Fitness Magazine. Weight loss supplements are a billion dollar industry and one company after the next is trying to find the next great weight loss product. Unfortunately the last fairly effective weight loss product was called ephedrine. Ephedrine was essentially a potent amphetamine that was a stimulant and thermogenic. But it also caused a lot of side effects and even deaths. Therefore the FDA made the sale of ephedrine illegal. So with the demise of ephedrine, what were we left with? Is there an weight loss or fat burning compound (whatever you want to call it) that produces results? Will there ever be another weight loss product as good as ephedrine? Well lets start from the top.

Here is (what I think anyhow) one of the biggest misconceptions that consumers have about the supplement industry. The supplement company’s that you know do not make the ingredients in their products. They buy them from other company’s that half the time pay other company’s to make them. A little confusing I know, well let me break it down for you. Lets take this nutraceutical. (for reference nutraceutical will mean any single nutritional ingredient), called Advantra -Z. Believe it or not but Advantra Z is the only patented thermogenic on the market today. A company called Nutratech makes it. Here’s there website, http://www.nutratechinc.com/advz/advz.php. Notice you wont find it for sale in capsules or anything.. Nor will you find promises of “losing 40lbs in 30 days” or before or after pictures. Nutra-tech is the company that actually MAKES the powder. Supplement company’s that you are familiar with, the ones whom have products for sale at retail and internet stores, buy Advantra Z from Nutra-tech and then pay another company to put it into capsules, package it, label it, and then ship it to wherever. The supplement company’s have done no research or actually lab studies. They simply relied on Nutra-tech to do it all for them and then they take all the credit. Its misleading because it makes you think that the supplement company’s have guys in lab coats creating these products like Advantra-Z, but that is far from the truth. Here is a statement I found in a fitness magazine by a supplement company that sells a weight loss capsule product. (This weight loss product was in the top 5 best sellers on bodybuilding.com on January 2nd 2010 when I looked it up on the net. ) “We’ve created the most potent blend of fat-destroying compounds imaginable”. As you can see it makes you think that this supplement company actually created the ingredients in this product. Here is the first ingredient I found in the product, when I looked at the supplement facts panel.

3,3'-Diiodo-L-Thyronine

I then simply copied and pasted it in google and found this link in the top ten of the search results.

http://jessica66.trustexporter.com/p...267/577227.htm


If you scroll to the middle of the page you will read this.

Features:
(info at lgberry dot com)
1. We can supply 10% and 60% 3,3' Diiodo-L-thyronine, or other specification
2. The color: brown yellow color powder
3. The testing method: HPLC
4. We can supply 3,3' Diiodo-L-thyronine any quantities with competitive prices and specification needed. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you are interested in our product.
5. Package: cardboard drums, with double aseptic food poly bags inside. Or by cartons, with visual aseptic food poly bags inside, 25kgs per carton with 10 bags inside, 2.5kg per bag.
6. We have passed HACCP Certificate, ISO9001 Certificate and we have USA FDA register number. And we are also Alibaba Chinese supplier. Now, we can do commodity inspection.

What this means is that this company can supply you with bulk powder 3,3' Diiodo-L-thyronine. For more info go to www.lgberry.com. So that is exactly what I did. And low and behold you will see that this is a Chinese company located in China selling all sorts of nutraceutical compounds. From Resveratrol to Horny Goat Weed. This Chinese company is called Lingonberry Organic Foodstuffs Co., Ltd….hmmmm sounds like it can be a local Vermont company owned by some stand up business men. But look further and their real name is Daxinganling located in 1 LvShui Road, SongLing District, DaXingAnLing City, HeiLongJiang, China. This my friends is where 95% of your nutracueticals found in your favorite supplements are from, China. And some guy in a lab coat out of California working for one of these major supplement company’s selling millions of dollars of year of their best selling fat burning product on bodybuilding.com is made up horse shit. These supplement company’s don’t have any research and development departments. All they have is some slick marketing guys that know how to turn out a product and put out a double spread ad in a muscle magazine. China and the people from China are the ones that are actual INVENTING new fat burning nutraceutcials. American company’s simply rely on them to inform them when they have done so. Pretty sad isn’t it!!. Sad that billions of dollars worth of weight loss supplement sold at retail and internet stores are all made with nutracueticals made in China. Here for better understanding is a graph showing the manufacturing process of the best selling dietary weight loss supplements sold in America. So now you know why no weight loss products actual work. Some company in China is not going to invent a weigh loss product (or at least I don’t have the hopes). America is the place where the best invention are made, not China. So until some company in the U.S. invents a nutraceutical to actually work, you are going to be stuck using products that don’t, but according to the supplement company’s that sell them, “work like nothing you have ever tried before!” See our fake before and after pictures. Please I really hope nobody believes before and after pictures anymore. Can we really trust these photos? But anyway……

Previously I mentioned a product called Advantra-Z. Advantra-Z is a branded ingredient. Meaning the company that sells this product (Nutra-tech) actually went through the time to put some effort into the product and its quality. Yes its probably made it China, but at least this branded ingredient you know goes through some sort of quality to check to make sure it actually is Advantra-Z. And Americans that work for Nutra-tech hopefully have some integrity and want to sell a 100% legit product. Now the other product I mentioned in this article, 3,3' Diiodo-L-thyronine, is not a branded ingredient. Its what I like to call a “who’s know what the hell it is” product. Sure the guys at Daxingangling assured me it was 100% 3,3' Diiodo-L-thyronine, so I guess I’ll trust them. (uh yeah right). See the difference. One product has an American blanket around it and the other product is just 100% pure grade A Chinese. So the bottom line is when choosing a weight loss product it is important to find products that have BRANDED ingredients in them.

What are the best Branded weight loss nutracueticals? (now make sure you understand what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about products sold at retail and internet stores) I’m talking about products like Advantra-Z. Strictly single nutraceutical ingredients. I put links to the manufacturers website. This way you can see the real science behind these products.

1) CLA gels. You have to look for Tonalin Brand, it’s the best one. If you are not using Tonalin you could be using CLA made in China. http://www.tonalin.com/index.php?opt...8&lang=english

2 Advantra-Z. (I already mentioned)

3) Capsimax. This is a hot pepper extract that is proven to increase metabolic rate. http://www.omniactives.com/omni/htm/omniproduct.htm

4) Garcitrin. This is a HCA extract that works by 3 ways. In layman’s terms it promotes fat oxidation and prohibits fat oxidation. http://www.garcitrin.com/about-garcitrin.html

5)Forslean. This is a Coleus forskohlii extract. Patented so it’s the only one you should use. The process to make the product is why it works. The Chinese sell it but it doesn’t work because they don’t make it right. A lot of supplement company’s don’t realize that they are breaking the law when they use the Chinese version of this product in their formulas because its under patent protection. http://www.forslean.com/whatis.htm

6) 7-Keto.7-Keto is a potent activator of 3 important thermogenic enzymes. These enzymes are known to play an important role in helping the body convert stored fat to energy. Its patented. http://www.humaneticsingredients.com...x65y1x879x1x65

7) Cactinea. This is a rather new product. Comes from a cactus fruit. But the clinical studies look very promising. Most likely you are not going to find this at any retail stores yet.http://www.bioserae.com/uk/Cacti-Nea...%A2_17_18.html

8) Slimaluna.http://www.slimaluma.com/ .

9) Teavigo. A green tea extract that is the best in the world. Helps promote weight loss. http://www.teavigo.com/Files/HTML/index.html

Ok, that is most of the best weight loss nutracueticals available on the planet today. My personal favorite is the Capsimax and the Teavigo. I stack those with a huge amount of dietary fat capsules: CLA, flax, fish, and krill. I take about 4, 70 cc scoops of protein factory.com omega muscle, 3 CLA gels, and 6 krill oil gel caps. Nothing is better than that.

So you still want to buy a magic weight loss product from the internet in hopes that it will make you ripped like those guys in the before and after pics in the muscle magazine. Yea I know its hard not to believe those ads, especially when they say this…”It packs ingredients that are so incredibly effective at burning body fat that it’s not for the weak-hearted or undedicated”. (OMG, do people actually believe this shit, this is border line Barnum Bailey Bullshit) Fine. But here are some simple rules that will help you out from buying some shitty ass Chinese loading product that may or may not destroy your liver or put you in the hospital.


My Rules for Buying a Weight Loss Pill Product

The funny thing with weight loss products is that there are just so many. Just by scanning the internet you can find over 100,000 different products. . And why are there so many? Because none of them work. Well some may work, but they are very, very weak. If you are an unknowing consumer you buy one product and it doesn’t work, so what do you do in desperation, you try another product from another company claiming that they have just created the “ultimate fat burner that makes all others obsolete”!!! Give me a break, each diet product I looked at in a recent muscle magazine claims to be “the most potent you’ll ever try” and promises “to melt the fat off you”, HA!fat chance (no pun intended).

Rule #1.
Stay away from kitchen sink supplements. Kitchen sink supplements are weight loss products with a ton of nutraceuticals tossed into the capsule. It is made to make you think that, “Wow look at all these ingredients I’m getting!!“ A good quality weight loss capsule will have only 1 to 3 ingredients. Anything more is impossible because either the product will just get to expensive to make or the dosage will be too low. For example the nutraceutical Cactinea. The clinical study calls for 2 grams per day. So in order to cut costs, a supplement company will only put in 250mg into there product. They will put Cactinea on the label but not put the amount. Or they will put the amount in hopes you never look at the actual clinical study, which 99% of people don’t. I mean come on is some college chick wanting to buy a weight loss product actually going to do any research. (I don’t think so). Kitchen sink supplements by far are the worst. Its like chugging down a crazy cocktail of Chinese made powders. These products suck. Most of them simply contain caffeine to make it feel like its working.

Rule #2.
If it sounds like some sort of drug sounding name or relating to ephedrine don’t use it. For example, Beta-Methoxy- Phenylethylamine, Methylselenocysteine, Synephrine, DL-Phenylalanine I mean come on people, what the hell is this stuff!!! Are these products being made by pharmaceutical manufacturer in the United States. Nope, they are made by some company in China. The Chinese are turning out alternatives to ephedrine faster than I can finish this article. The FDA cant keep up with them. But the Chinese manufacturers of these products contact the supplement company’s and convince them to put this new special ingredient in their weight loss product. And of course the supplement company’s don’t give a shit about your health. And they want to make believe that they are cutting edge. These products can and WILL kill you. But hey, at least you would have lost weight, you might be 6ft under but you‘ll weigh less!! I went on bodybuilding.com today (January 2nd, 2010 and found in the top 5 best selling products without stimulants a product containing Usnic Acid. You can easily do a google search on Usnic Acid and find very negative effects from it. But hey the company that selling it is getting rich playing Russian roulette with your health. Assholes!!

Rule #3. Make sure it has a branded ingredient in the ingredient deck, as I previously listed. Branded ingredients on the back of a weight loss supplement are easy to find. That new Kardashian product believe it or not does have a branded ingredient in it. So at least that product has some quality behind it. P.S watch out for alternatives. For example, Green Tea Extract or EGCG. The BEST in the world is from DSM branded Teavigo. But of course its expensive. So what do the supplement company’s do. They simply call up Foo-Fung Chow from Beijing and ask him to supply them with EGCG similar to Teavigo, “No problem”, says Mr. Chow, “I make it for you at 75% less the cost”. “Great” says, Mr. Supplement company owner. Next thing you know its in his weight loss product.

Rule #4
Make sure it comes from a reputable company. NOT!!. There are barely any reputable company’s selling weight loss products! So I’m not going to make that a rule!! Ha Ha!!
Google this.“FDA recalls weight loss supplement” You’ll find hundreds of supplement company’s that spike their products with real drugs. Even the biggest of the big supplement company’s choose to use Chinese nutraceuticals over branded ingredients.

Rule #5
Don’t rely on what OTHER people have told you. I have been reading the internet message boards since the inception of the internet. There’s so many wanna-be’s and self proclaimed experts posting on these forums its not even funny. And they all post messages like they know for sure what they are talking about. So I highly recommend NOT relying on the internet when choosing a weight loss product to buy. 99% of people posting on message boards know nothing about supplement manufacturing.

Rule #6
Buy a weight loss supplement with ONLY ONE branded ingredient. For example. Go out and buy yourself Tonalin CLA. Then go to the Tonalin CLA website (which I have provided the link) and use it as THEY recommend, not how some self-proclaimed expert on bodybuilding.com forum tells you. Then use it and see if it works. If it doesn’t you know it didn’t work for you and then you can move on to the next branded ingredient.
If you want to find more weight loss supplements that are only one branded ingredients what you do is go to the website links I provided for these ingredients. Then contact them and ask them where can you buy there products. They will be happy to tell you.


Rule #7.
Don’t expect any miracles.
Even the branded ingredients I mentioned in my opinion are very weak products. What I mean by that is even if you took these supplements as directed the weight loss you can expect is going to be very minimal. Therefore don’t rely on weight loss products for your weight loss. Macronutrients is the key and WILL POWER is everything. So if you want to lose fat quit eating shit and maybe hire a personal trainer. Take a look at this….a girlfriend of mine eats this stuff for 2 months before a photoshoot or any exop’s she attends to get cut. She’s got a six pack and and ass that looks like an apple.

Here is what she eat’s.

Chicken, lean beef, egg whites, tuna, greens, yams, and 1 gallon of water a day. The supplements she uses are protein powder (of course protein factory.com), and CLA gels and some multi-vitamin.

Personal trainers are good for will power. They tell you what to eat and if you stray from your diet they kick your ass. If your in the N.Y.C. area use Brian Hernandez over at VIP fitness. He’ll whip your ass into shape.http://www.vipfitnesscenter.com/

Now if you have any will power, see if you can eat what my girlfriend eats for 2 months straight. And no there are no cheat days! This is 100% of the time. . Because THAT is what it takes to lose body fat. Not these bullshit diets or pills, or stupid Oprah recommendations, or any of these diet books. If you choose to buy a non-branded ingredient sold by one of these no nothing supplement company’s your playing Russian roulette with your own health. And I guarantee you after one bottle you wont buy another bottle again of the same stuff. Unless it’s a stimulant containing product and you just like the jolt you get form it. Don’t believe me, or think that it could never happen to you, think again. Do a good search for this. “death from using dietary supplement”, and let me know what you find.

Happy Supplement Shopping.

Alex --

I hope you don't mind my adding to your WLS thread.

One category which you didn't mention are the medications developed for weight loss.

Perhaps the most "successful" weight loss medication in recent years is Orlistat (Xenical), which was first available only by prescription but is now available in a half-strength OTC formulation, marketed under the name "Alli." Orlistat is a reversible inhibitor of lipases in the GI tract, resulting in approximately a 30% decrease in the absorption of dietary fat at the prescription dosage. Because the unabsorbed fat is excreted, the patient can get steatorrhea, which is rather unpleasant and thus acts as aversion therapy to eating fatty foods. Orlistat can also interfere with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, so supplementation is usually recommended.

Unfortunately, for all this hassle, the weight loss benefits of Orlistat are less than spectacular. In the case of clinical trials with Xenical, patients lost only six pounds more per year than placebo. Assuming a linear dose-response curve, that means that people taking the half-strength OTC version Alli will probably lose only a few pounds more than those who don't take it. IMO, it's not worth it.

It should also be mentioned that several CNS-acting prescription medications for weight loss (e.g. dexfenfluramine [Redux] and rimonabant [Acomplia]) were withdrawn from the market due to significant and potentially life-threatening side-effects.

Clinically, the cornerstones of weight loss have always been diet and exercise. Supplementation may be of some benefit, but there is no "magic bullet" that will make fat melt away, etc. As you've often said, don't buy into the hype.

- Dan

No not at all, that's why I posted it in the forum so people can discuss. I was gonna add carb blockers and fat blockers but I dont know...I really dont consider those weight loss products. I always thought these "blockers" would also block the good carbs and the good fat from being digested.

Originally Posted by AlexRogers

No not at all, that's why I posted it in the forum so people can discuss. I was gonna add carb blockers and fat blockers but I dont know...I really dont consider those weight loss products. I always thought these "blockers" would also block the good carbs and the good fat from being digested.

By blocking GI lipases, Orlistat prevents the conversion of triglycerides into monoglycerides and free fatty acids. The latter can still be be absorbed if present. Personally, I don't think the medication works that well., especially considering the side-effects. It's not like patients are going to lose 10 lbs per month on it either.

- Dan

As far as buying anything from China, you have to blame bad economics and the government structure that allowed China to basically get away with this. U.S. competitiveness was on and is still on a decline since 1998 and slide more then 21%.

If our government feels that these products are too cheap or are not worth for US citizens to ingest, wear, or use then why are they still being imported? The answer is simple and quoted directly from About.com

"As China buys U.S. Treasuries to support the value of the dollar, and keep its exports cheap, it becomes a large lender to the U.S. Government. In July 2009, China owned $800 billion in U.S. Treasuries, 23% of the total $3.4 trillion outstanding. This makes it the largest owner. Many are concerned that it gives China political leverage over U.S. fiscal policy, since it could theoretically call in its loan.

When dealing with a government who at any time could call in the debt that we owe and (if that were to happen it would give a new meaning to the word, recession and slow economy, which would weaken our dollar further and cut imports/export to almost a halt; bye bye economy) since they continue to buy US Treasuries to support the value of the dollar, keep expecting this cheap shit along with other products to continue to flood the US markets.

What do we expect when everything comes down to one thing and one thing only, the all might dollar? If it cost me $1.00 to make it here in the US and cost .10 to make in China and .30 to ship and truck it that leaves me with a profit of .70 per unit being made. Make several hundred thousand pounds of this, well you know where Im going with the rest of it.

That is the reason why.

Best thing to do, be informed and stay away or simply talk to your Dr. about what you are going to take

Which reminds me, Dan I need an appointment next week

Alex, it has been a while for me to discuss this topic. Does PF have any products with your favorites in it?