• Adios
this herbal supplement combines butternut, dandelion root,
boldo and fucus in a tablet that claims to speed up your
metabolism and burn fat more efficiently so that you lose
weight. Fucus (a type of seaweed) supposedly works as a mild
thyroid stimulant to boost your metabolism while the other
ingredients stimulate the liver to increase this effect. Adios
tablets do come with a sensible slimming plan – but if you
really want to boost your metabolism and burn fat faster,
you’d be better off taking more exercise.
• Bional Apple Slim Xtra
with apple vinegar extract, vitamins, chromium nicotinate
and selenium, this slimming pill claims to support the
metabolism of body fat and encourage the movement of food
through the small intestine. It also provides vitamins
important for the release of energy from food. Frankly,
there’s insufficient evidence to support these claims. We
recommend you crunch on a fresh apple for just 50 calories!
• Chromium Picolinate
this is a supplement on it’s own, but
chromium is also an
ingredient in many slimming tablets. Research shows that
chromium may help to control blood sugar levels and reduce
insulin levels, which in turn increases our ability to burn
fat. The evidence isn’t conclusive, however. The easy way to
keep blood sugar levels steady to prevent carb cravings, is to
go for foods with a low
glycaemic index.
• Citrimax (HCA)
also known as hydroxycitric acid or HCA, this popular
supplement has become a standard ingredient in many slimming
tablets, as well as being sold on its own. It comes from the
dried rind of an Asian fruit whose Latin name is Garcinia
cambogia. The claim is that HCA helps to regulate appetite,
stops cravings for sweet foods, stimulates metabolism and uses
the body’s fat stores to provide energy. However, there’s no
scientific evidence to back this up. The best way to
control
cravings is to eat regularly, avoid skipping meals and opt for
foods with a low glycaemic index.
• Figure Trim CLA Formula
this tablet combines a type of fat called conjugated linoleic acid
(CLA) with chromium and lecithin and claims to help maintain
an optimum balance between lean muscle and
body fat. Some
animal studies have shown that CLA may lower body fat and
increase muscle but the evidence for an effect in humans is
still weak. Our advice to lose fat and build muscle is to
combine fat-burning aerobic exercise with resistance exercises
to tone and strengthen muscles!
• Holland & Barratt 7 Day Souper Cabbage Diet System
the main ingredients in these pills are onion, green
pepper, celery, tomato, carrot, courgette and cabbage! You’ll
lose weight but it won’t have anything to do with the tablets
and everything to do with the bizarre, extremely
low-calorie
diet plan that comes with it. On day one, you may only eat
fruit (except bananas!); on day two, it’s a jacket potato with
butter and vegetables (except beans, peas and sweetcorn); on
day three, it’s fruit and vegetables; and so on. If you really
fancy the idea of
cabbage soup, we suggest you make up your
own recipe using the fresh ingredients listed above.
• Holland & Barrett Fibre Diet
this combines a blend of fibre from vegetables, grains and
citrus fruits that supposedly help to fill you up. The tablets
also come with a recommended
1,000-calorie diet. Of course,
fibre is an important part of a healthy diet and keeps you
feeling fuller for longer, but in our opinion it’s better to
eat more fibre-rich foods rather than relying on supplements.
• Lipoclear XLS
the active ingredient in this tablet is chitosan, a fibre
extract that comes from the shells of shrimp. The theory is
that chitosan binds with fat from food and stops it from being
absorbed so that it passes through the digestive tract and is
excreted in the stools. A small scale trial has shown this
product to result in weight loss but there’s still
insufficient evidence to suggest that chitosan is effective in
aiding weight loss. Cutting your intake of fatty foods is an
easier and more effective way to lose weight.
• Phase 2 Starch Neutraliser
this is a relatively new product that’s promoted as being
‘The Atkins Diet in a pill’! It contains a concentrated
extract of white kidney bean that supposedly neutralises the
starch-digesting enzyme, alpha amylase. This prevents starchy
carbohydrates from being broken down into glucose so that
starch simply passes through the digestive tract as extra
fibre. Our advice would be to make sure the starchy foods you
eat are also packed with fibre in the first place – we’re
talking wholegrain cereals and breads, wholewheat pasta and
brown rice.
• Powerhealth Slim Nite
this tablet contains three amino acids (building blocks for
protein), ornithine, arginine and carnitine. Carnitine
supposedly plays a vital role in converting stored fat into
energy while ornithine and arginine are important for
metabolism. Strangely no reference is made as to why you
should take these pills before you go to bed. Instead we
recommend you get a good night’s sleep and wake up revitalised
the next day so that you can burn calories and tone your
muscles through exercise.
• Xenadrine EFX
this well-known slimming tablet contains a mixture of green tea extract, yerba mate
and bitter orange to burn fat fast. Preliminary studies have
shown that green tea extract may help with slimming by
speeding up fat oxidation, but further research is needed
before any firm conclusions can be drawn. Meanwhile, yerba
mate contains caffeine, which may boost metabolism slightly
and an extract from bitter oranges may affect metabolism. Of
course, an inexpensive way that’s guaranteed to burn fat is to
follow a reduced-calorie diet and take more exercise!
• Zotrim
another herbal tablet that contains extracts of three
South American herbs, yerba mate, guarana and damiana. Zotrim
claims this
combination slows the rate at which your stomach
empties, which in turn fills you up more quickly and keeps you
feeling that way for longer. There is a clinical study showing
some positive results amongst slimmers, but it’s the only one of its kind. However, eating
more foods with a low glycaemic index will also help to keep
you feeling fuller for longer, so you might want to try this
first!
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