Fat Burners: Hot or Not?

Fat Burners: Hot or Not?

Chances are, if you’ve walked into any pharmacy or supplement shop, you’ve seen boxes that claim to burn fat away at larger than life rates. I have seen firsthand how many people want shortcuts to lose weight faster with supposedly half the effort. People will do almost anything in an effort to burn fat and this concept rings true with the misinformation surrounding fat burners.

These instantaneous fat melting results may sound like it they’re too good to be true and I would tell you that you’re correct. Most of the ingredients that make up typical fat burners have not demonstrated increased fat burn in controlled studies as they claim to nor are they FDA approved. The name “fat burner” also creates an illusion of ease for the general consumer, but in actuality these products are money sinks that hoodwink unsuspecting individuals looking for a quick fix.

“Does caffeine help burn fat?” is one of the many questions often seen when discussing one of the main ingredients listed in fat burners, but there is not enough evidence supporting the fat burning qualities that consumers seek. Researchers studying the relationship between caffeine and increased weight loss have not found any conclusive evidence suggesting that caffeine was any more effective than a placebo in conjunction with utilizing a low-calorie diet plan (Astrup A, Buemann B, Christensen NJ, Toubro S, Thorbek G, Victor OJ et al., 1992).

Another supposed agent of fat burning is L-Carnitine that helps to transport fats into the cells, thus causing increased fat burn and will allow people to use energy that is more readily available. Our body does continually make it and needs it to operate but supplement companies have selfishly promoted it as a viable option for a shortcut in the fat burning process. Researchers at Ball State University have illustrated how orally taken carnitine (the popular form of ingesting this supplement) has not been shown to increase the levels of carnitine in the muscles, thus revealing the false pretense surrounding the sale and marketing of this product by supplement companies (Vukovich MD, Costill DL, Fink WJ, 1994).

Touted by supplementation companies as a great fat burner as well as an appetite suppressant, CLA or conjugated linoic acid is another supplement that should not be marketed as such. Many studies have shown that there has been a successful decrease in fat mass for both mice and rats when using CLA over a 2-4 week period (Park Y, Albright KJ, Liu W, Storkson JM,Cook ME, Pariza MW, 1997). Nevertheless, there is a lack of evidence supporting any decrease in fat mass using CLA for both overweight and/or obese humans as exhibited by the study done by Norwegian researchers (Blankson H, Stakkestad JA, et. al, 2000).

The relationship between the lack of evidence supporting fat burners and the increasing popularity of fat burners illustrates the lack of knowledge or research done by the general public. As the rate of obesity continues to grow, the scientific community and government should distribute more information discussing the benefits of clean eating, cardiovascular exercise, and an effort to make healthy food more accessible and/or cheap for the general public. This will not only be a preemptive strike on decreasing the rate of obesity in America, but will also help to decrease the popularity and sale of useless supplements such as fat burners.

References

Astrup A, Buemann B, Christensen NJ, Toubro S, Thorbek G, Victor OJ et al. The effect of ephedrine/caffeine mixture on energy expenditure and body composition in obese women.Metabolism 1992; 41: 686–688.

Blankson H, Stakkestad JA, Fagertun H,Thom E, Wadstein J, Gudmundsen O.Conjugated linoleic acid reduces body fat mass in overweight and obese humans. J Nutr 2000; 130: 2943–2948.

Jeukendrup, A. E. and Randell, R. (2011), Fat burners: nutrition supplements that increase fat metabolism. Obesity Reviews, 12: 841-851. doi:10.1111/j.1467-789X.2011.00908.x

Park Y, Albright KJ, Liu W, Storkson JM,Cook ME, Pariza MW. Effect of conjugated linoleic acid on body composition in mice.Lipids 1997; 32: 853–858.

Vukovich MD, Costill DL, Fink WJ.Carnitine supplementation: effect on muscle carnitine and glycogen content during exercise. J Appl Physiol 1994; 26: 1122–1129.

Yoshida T, Sakane N, Umekawa T, Kondo M. Relationship between basal metabolic rate, thermogenic response to caffeine, and body weight loss following combined low calorie and exercise treatment in obese women. Int J Obesity 1994;18:345-350.