What are fat loss pills and how do they work ?

Fat loss pills are usually highly profitable, aggressively marketed products distributed in the dietary industry. They are mainly used as shortcuts when individuals do not see the results they want in appearance as fast as they would like to or for professional bodybuilders to cut down the last few percentages of bodyfat to get optimal results. This is achieved by using potentially harmful ingredients at high doses or high intake of caffeine with some other ingredients as supporting "secret sauce" depending on the product. All in all the promised outcomes seem to be overstated and can be achieved otherwise through less costly and risky means.

I am not a doctor or pharmacist. If you intend to use weight loss pills please talk to your doctor or pharmacist, be transparent about your current intake of medicine and what your reasons for taking weight loss pills are, to make an informed and unharmful choice for your diet.

What are fat loss pills ?

Fat loss pills are tablets which are being marketed with the promise that you will lose weight because you take them. Depending on the target group they are marketed according to it. If you look at fat loss pills for women you will usually find marketing text which promotes it as being "Natural", "suppressing hunger" and getting you in shape. For men the product usually is promoted as "Kick ass", "lightning fast" and getting you shredded in seconds. Here are two examples:

For men:

"If you want a weight management food supplement that kicks like a bull and hits like a bolt of lightning then try The Ripper today!" The ripper fat burner

For women:

"The source of this natural goodness is a unique blend of fruits and vegetables." Fitmiss Delight

You can make many examples, but I'll stick with these two for illustration purposes. Generally, you can assume that they do less than promised on the box for following reasons:

1. It is in the companies interest to make you believe your weight loss is mainly due to the pill, rather than consistent training and dieting
2. It is in the companies interest to have lesser quality ingredients in the pills they sell you to turn more profit to bring down production cost
3. Most of the ingredients which have a high impact on weight loss bring high risks with them and are therefore not allowed to be sold without prescription

So fat loss pills are supplements which are marketed for the purpose of weight loss and usually want to promote that you can get a six pack body or well-shaped booty with a shortcut and without putting the hard work in. If it is too good to be true, it usually is. Commonly used names for fat loss pills are:

• Fat loss pills
• Thermogenics
• E/C/A stack

How do fat loss pills work ?

Depending on how the ingredients are designed fat loss pills will speed up your metabolism, suppress hunger, activate cell functions related to burning fat or a combination of all of these. Components used to achieve these effects are:

• HCA
• Ephedra
• Chitosan
• Pyruvate
• Vitamin B12
• Conjugated Linoleic Acid
• Fat Loss pills
• Caffeine
• Chromium

This can, for example, propagate a thermogenic effect which means that your body temperature goes up. Think of it as creating an artificial mini fever to make your cells work faster, which is the same effect your body uses to fight intruders when you get an actual fever. 

Conjugated Linoleic Acid / Vitamin B12

These are the two ingredients I can personally comment on as they were part of my lean muscle bundle from myprotein which I used for 90 days. Neither the CLA or higher intake of vitamin B12 created the desired results of fat loss. Effectively my entire body fat went up from 11% to 16% while on these supplements.

This is mainly due to that I did not make major adaptations in my diet to support fat loss. In fact, I had no diet plan at all. Here you already see how you should get your priorities straight. If your aim is to lose weight, exercise more and take more care of what you eat and forget about fat loss pills in my opinion, which is also mirrored in on the internet / amongst experts, if you do a weekend of opinion collection / research on this topic.

If you are a bodybuilder who wants to cut 1 - 3% percent body fat more to get the definition you need on stage to win, the discussion is a different one. If you are an average joe like me, spent the money you will invest on CLA and B12 in a year on a proper diet plan by a professional instead and stick to it for a year. Same goes if you are an adolescent who wants to impress the "birds".

Chitosan

The video above is an example of false advertisement on chitosan which has already been ridiculed by the FDA by a letter to distributors of chitosan for weight loss. Chitosan is derived from the shells of lobsters, shrimp and other shellfish with shells by throwing them into acid. 

Its proven use cases in humans are for gum disease, kidney failure, and plastic surgery. Studies on the effects on weight loss have been not conclusive. Reading those outcomes I would say if you lose only one pound more by using chitosan over a period of four weeks to six months, save yourself the money and time invested to either do more workouts or have three more months of gym membership. 

Pyruvate

Pyruvate is an essential part of the energy process in your cells involving amino acids and glucose. Pyruvate has proven to work on obese rats back on the 70's which is usually a precursor for adapting it for humans. 

This was done and came to promising conclusions in tests on sedentary prospects with very restricted diets. Again here you see that the main driver of fat loss was not Pyruvate itself, but the food restrictions on it. The fact that the conductor of these studies owns several Pyruvate related patents might give you a hint on why he geared the studies in such a way, that the outcome would be a good one for Pyruvate.

When pitched for weight loss and muscle gains in a controlled study on footballers, which are more likely the target group you would identify with, if you read my blog, creatine showed to be superior to Pyruvate as a supplement for sports gains and weight loss. Pyruvate and its uses are very well described on Muscle Eco if you care for a deep dive on the topic.

All in all again the proof provided has been done on obese, sedentary people, with high doses and not a lot of food. This is a pattern you will find in most studies on fat loss pills with a positive outcome for the product. If you want to understand better on how studies can be rigged in favor of a certain outcome read the book bad pharma by Ben Goldacre.

E/C/A stack

E/C/A stack is an abbreviation which stands for Ephedrine, Caffeine, and Adrenaline stack. The three ingredients are mixed to help with fat loss and seem to be especially popular amongst bodybuilders based on what I could gather. However, they are risks attached to it, which I personally would not be willing to take.

An E/C/A stack is created by taking 25mg of ephedrine, 200mg of caffeine and 80mg of aspirin a day. Core substance is ephedrine which effects are prolonged by caffeine and the body is supposedly made to be more receptive to its advantages through the aspirin. A variation on the E/C/A stack is the E/C stack which is said to have the same effects but leaves out the risk of adding aspirin. The popularity of the stack was based on the availability of the ingredients in local drug stores and low acquisition price when compared to marketed weight loss pills. 

While it is proven to promote weight loss in humans without adverse effects in small samples a study with a bigger sample concluded that ephedrine can increase the risk of heart palpations and psychiatric symptoms two to three times. The fact that the most detailed and readily available article on how to dose the E/C/A stack online is hosted on Livestrong is both unnerving and ironic in my opinion.

Ephedrine is available over the counter in small doses. Its main application is treating asthma, but it can also be used to suppress appetite and promote fat loss. This medicine can also be used to synthesize meth (think Breaking bad). To prohibit misuse it is banned in some countries and highly controversial when used in dietary products and not sold in high quantities. 

You should know that it has been declared illegal in various use forms in following countries:

• Canada
• The United States of America
• Germany
• South Africa

I am not a doctor and I think whether it is legal or illegal to use is highly depending on the purpose of use and dosage. The commonly accepted dosage per intake seems to be 8mg a pop for a daily dosage of 24mg per day to treat mainly asthma. 

In addition, ephedrine has been banned by the world anti-doping association (WADA) and concentrations higher than 10mg will disqualify you from competition or you will be found guilty of doping.

An alternative to ephedrine to treat asthma is epinephrine, which has lesser side effects and is less critically looked at by the WADA. As it is easily detectable in your blood, it is definitely not a smart choice, if you are a doping scoundrel.

Side effects are sweat, acne, irregular heartbeat, fastened heartbeat, confusion, insomnia, paranoia, hostility and mild euphoria. Cross-effects are especially detrimental when combined with certain antidepressants or when pregnant. I can only see one promising side effect here and as the end result of these side effects are strokes, heart attacks, and depression it makes me not specifically keen to try...

Out of the top ten ranked websites, I checked on ephedrine only one portrayed ephedrine relatively harmless, which was examine.com. This website sells courses on supplements and the according pills in their store. Even though a well-written article with lots of detail, i would personally say it is fair to think that the author is somewhat biased due to the nature of the service the website provides. 

All in all my take on ephedrine is, therefore:

1. Governments banned it / ban it / gate it by subscription
2. It is doping
3. It exposes you to considerable unnecessary risk if you do not tread for asthma

Therefore i would personally not consider taking it. I do not want Hank to come knocking down my door or to turn into Walter White / Chris Benoit. Thanks, but no thanks on ephedrine in my case.

Here is a quote from Herald.ie  from the doctor section:

"Remember, ephedrine in any dose can cause serious side effects, especially when combined or used with product containing caffeine."

Caffeine had a lot of surprises in stock for me when I read up about for this article. I was under the impression that my current consumption of 5 double espressos a day, which I thought was outrageous, is actually ok according to daily allowed doses.

Caffeine is the most commonly used psychoactive drug as it is one of the few which is widely legally available. Its chemical structure is close to the most basic building blocks of our body, guanine, and adenine. About 90% of northern Americans consume caffeine on a daily basis. The most common sources are coffee, tea and, believe it or not, chocolate, as cocoa also has traces of caffeine in it. 

It works by blocking the receptors in your brain for adenosine, which makes you feel less drowsy. Harmless intakes are daily doses of 500mg. 10g would be toxic, but this is hardly achievable by consuming everyday products, as a cup of coffee comes in at 80 - 175mg a cup depending on the make. Just watch out, if you get dietary supplements and weight loss pills, as they usually work with  high doses of caffeine to achieve desired results. Same goes for energy drinks such as Red Bull. Check out references on caffeine in your daily food to be sure whether you are taking in too much.

Metastudies of effects of caffeine on cancer and heart problems have shown that caffeine has little to no effect on getting a heart attack. Also, it is mostly classified as mildly to non-addictive based on the definition of addiction being applied. Usually, you can get off coffee / caffeine quite easy within two days if you wish. Scenarios for ephedrine, nicotine or alcohol are a lot different.

Further research showed positive effects on athletic performance especially for sprint and endurance which were not sustainable, as the caffeine effects wore off. Think of it as a booster effect. If you had palpations from drinking coffee it is most likely related to the uptake in adrenaline in your body and not necessarily because of caffeine. Check out your adrenaline levels, if this occurs. 

Based on this I will keep using caffeine for a boost for my workouts, but not as a weight loss supplement and definitely won't combine it with ephedrine to prolong the effects.

Aspirin is used to treat pain, fever, inflammation and in small doses to prevent heart attacks, strokes and blood clots. Side effects are ulcers, stomach bleeding, ulcers and ringing in the ears. Hippocrates describes n his writings the pain relieving effects of the willow tree from which aspirin was first isolated in 1763 by Edward Stone.

The world health organization describes aspirin as one of the cornerstones of a basic health system. For pain relief, Ibuprofen might be another option to consider as it reliefs pain without the side effect of stomach bleeding. For the three main versions of headaches, tension headaches, migraine and cluster headaches, it is most effective for tension headaches. 

Dosage per tablet is usually between 300 to 325mg per tablet depending on what you get, usually taken four times a day. "Baby Aspirin", which are not marketed as such anymore, have 75-81mg per tablet. So if you wanted to create an E/C/A stack, take one baby aspirin in addition to the ephedrine and caffeine you are taking in.

Based on what I researched on the internet it seems that the E/C/A stack also seems to work without Aspirin in it. The dosage which is recommended to create the stack is fairly low when compared to normal intake when prescribed. Still, i would not take aspirin for weight loss as I would expose myself to a minimal risk of stomach bleeding for losing weight as I am not treating pain, fever or inflammation, which is the actual purpose of aspirin.

All in all, when taking an E/C/A stack you are creating a medicine cocktail yourself with components which are likely banned by legal authorities and definitely not allowed in sports. As you can achieve weight loss in other, less potentially illegal and less risky ways, I personally think it is a treacherous road to go down on. The heart of the stack is ephedrine, which is a highly controversial product, especially when used for other purposes then treating asthma. There is a reason, why these components are not sold for dietary purposes in one pack in your local pharmacy...

 Popular fat loss products 

In this section we will take a quick look at some fat loss pills on the market and what you might want to know about them, using the knowledge we have established so far in this post. 

Biotest MD6 has gone through several permutations in its history on the market, as the main ingredients have been banned by the FDA. First, it was norephedrine, than ephedra, which we already talked about in this post, to then move on to yohimbine. This already tells you something about how the supplement industry works. They seem to use highly controversial, yet effective, ingredients to promote weight loss with considerable side effects and risk for the consumer until these get banned by the authorities and then move on. I already did some research on Biotest themselves for another post and the general feedback about their tactics was less than flattering. At last, it was discontinued and replaced by Hot Rox Extreme with less controversial ingredients. Biotest Hot Rox comes in at 44.95$ for 100 capsules. 

Twinlab ripped fuel works by using caffeine, green tea extract, and chromium. These are some of the few ingredients left which are still legal for weight loss, but it also used to work with ephedra, when it was not banned. Just as a reminder this is a combination I have already used without success out of the MyProtein multivitamin and CLA stack. It comes in considerably cheaper than MD6 at 15€ for 60 capsules and Twinlab also has a better reputation at first glance. 

Hydroxycut is the only one of the three with a clear own brand and website and with a less aggressive marketing approach in my personal opinion. They have quite a lot of reviews on several E-commerce websites and 120 capsules come in at roughly 60 USD. As with other product they lean into caffeine and folic acids to provide promised results. The fact that they choose a lot of ingredients where daily intake has not been defined yet is already a red flag for me.

Of course, this is just a short list and you can do further research, but these are the products a came across first when compiling this article. 

Conclusion

Weight loss pills are quite pricey, their effects in general minimal, studies which are promising are usually rigged in favor of the company conducting them when taking a closer look and they have already proven in the past to use ingredients which heighten your risk of death. As the money and effort researching the ingredients, as they also change over time as seen in the biotest example, can be put into doing more workouts and improving diet by normal shopping and cooking means, I overall conclude that these supplements are not worth my time. 

Do your own research and make your own decisions, but I hope this post was helpful and saved you some time. 

Further reading

• Colostrum
• Creatine
• Digestive Enzymes
• Electrolytes
• Fish Oil
• GABA
• Glucosamine
• Glutamine
• How much do I have to pay for supplements
• Multi-Vitamin
• Probiotics
• Protein
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D
• What are supplements
• Which supplements are sold the most
• ZMA