Your guide to Dieting, Diets and Diet Products.

We are not fans of serial dieting, and we are certainly not fans of risky or ineffective diet products. 

However, we do understand that dieting is a part of the American way of life today.  There are in fact many helpful diet products and programs – they are not all bad.  Here we provide you with our brief reviews of diet products, diet books and diet programs. 

But first, you should know why you need IntelliTrim.

Before you read on, you should know that almost all diets and diet products work in the short-term.  But most fail in the long term.  This happens for 2 reasons:  LPL Hyperactivity and Body Composition.

Learn more about how LPL Hyperactivity is causing your diet to stall 

Learn more about the importance of Body Composition

Diet Product Reviews

Hoodia

Researchers patented the use of a molecule in the hoodia plant: P57 as a diet aid and licensed it to Phytopharm of the UK.  P57 appears to reduce appetite. According to the company; In 2001, Phytopharm conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study that, with large doses of P57, caused a reduction in average daily calorie intake and a statistically significant decrease in body fat compared to placebo after two weeks. However, no studies have appeared in peer-reviewed medical journals.  In our view, published, double-blind placebo controlled clinical trials are necessary to confirm any product’s efficacy.

Phytopharm itself appears to be the only company doing any research into efficacy and they have said they will not market a product for a few years. As a result, no actual Hoodia product in the market today, to our knowledge, has been the subject of any credible scientific analysis. Hoodia (or more precisely, P57), may work and it may not, but the chances are that the products currently marketed contain very little of the molecule that is the subject of ongoing research.

Chitosan

A very interesting marine-derived fiber found in the shells of crustaceans such as shrimp, crab and other shellfish. There are a broad range of different molecules of varying molecular weights and potential benefits that are the subject of ongoing research for numerous health applications. Some chitosan has been shown in laboratory studies to bind to dietary fat and to prevent the absorption of that fat. There have also been several small scale clinical studies that have shown that people on calorie-restricted diets lose moderately more weight if they are taking chitosan. The good news is there is some evidence, albeit from just a few small scale trials, the bad news is that generally the results in terms of reduction in weight are very modest.

Patients allergic to shellfish should avoid this supplement. It also tends to bind the fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E and K) so subjects are advised to take a multivitamin and avoid chitosan if pregnant or especially vulnerable to vitamin deficiencies.

ALLI (Orlistat) also known as tetrahydrolipstatin

Orlistat capsules, now branded ALLI, were approved for over-the-counter treatment in the USA in 2007.  ALLI is produced and sold by the massive pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and unlike many supplements such as hoodia, there is no doubt that the product in the capsule is what it claims to be.

ALLI reduces the absorption of ingested fat by binding to and inhibiting the action of gastrointestinal lipase. There are examples of very unpleasant bowel-related side effects and it is recommended that people taking ALLI also take a multivitamin because ALLI reduces the absorption of the fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E and K).

The manufacturer conducted a clinical trial with 400 mildly to moderately overweight subjects and after 16 weeks, in conjunction with a low fat diet and exercise, the dieters who took ALLI lost 5% of their starting weight while the placebo group lost 3%. So for a 150 pound person this would amount to an additional 3 pound weight reduction over 4 months.  Hardly an overwhelming benefit, especially given the manufacturer’s own warning in the companion book called Are You Losing It? Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind: “Until you have a sense of your treatment effects, it’s probably a smart idea to wear dark pants and bring a change of clothes with you to work.”

Anatrim

According to the company, Anatrim gordonii, (Anatrim) is the botanical name for a plant that grows in Southern Africa that appears to act as an appetite suppressant. The company that markets the product as Anatrim says that “the chemical constituents in Anatrim work within the satiety center by releasing a chemical compound similar to glucose but much stronger. The hypothalamus in the brain receives this signal as an indication that enough food has been consumed and this in turn stunts the appetite”. This appears to be the same mechanism that is described for Hoodia gordonii – also derived from a South African plant.

The Anatrim product contains several other ingredients including Garcinia Cambogia Extract, Green Tea Extract, Dandelion Root Powder, Spirulina and Ginger Root Powder

The manufacturer recommends that people also reduce caloric intake and increase exercise. They do not make any statements about how much weight loss can be expected and appear not to have conducted any trials.  There is nothing published in any medical journals about Anatrim.