What are fat burners and do they really help you lose weight?
Miscellaneous / / May 19, 2023
There is hope, but very elusive.
What are fat burners and how do they work
Fat burners are nutritional supplements that attributed the ability to accelerate the metabolism of fats in the body and increase the release of energy. In other words, to make a person spend more calories without making any effort.
As a rule, fat burners consist of many ingredients, each of which works in its own way. Basically, weight loss supplements have the following effects:
- Increase energy costs at rest and during exercise. Substances such as caffeine, synephrine, green tea extract stimulate the body to burn more calories for heat production, which helps to reduce fat stores.
- Stimulate the breakdown of fats and inhibit their synthesis. These supplements include conjugated linoleic acid, irvingia gaboon, L-carnitine, fucoxanthin, garcinia cambogia, forskolin.
- interfere with the absorption of fats or carbohydrates from food, thereby reducing the total calorie content of the diet. Chitosan, white bean extract, green coffee extract, beta-glucans and glucomannan have such a mechanism of action.
- Suppress appetite. Many substances have this effect, including those already mentioned. caffeine, green tea extract, garcinia cambogia. For this, chromium picolinate and carallum fimbriata extract are added to fat burners.
Manufacturers claim that a combination of different substances for weight loss may be more effective than taking them separately. Therefore, the composition of supplements often includes many extracts, vitamins and trace elements.
What components of fat burners can help
There are scientific studies confirming the effectiveness of certain ingredients of fat burning supplements:
- Garcinia cambogia. Source of hydroxycycline acid (HCA), which may inhibit fat synthesis. Taking 1-2.8 g of this substance per day for 12 weeks Maybe provide a loss of about 0.8 kg of weight. However, such results are not always obtained: in some research The supplement had no effect.
- Green tea - the extract of this plant contains caffeine and catechins, which increase thermogenesis. Taking 0.14–1.2 g of catechins per day for three months helps lose about 1 kg of weight. Along with caffeine lose weight for 1.3 kg.
- Irvingia Gaboon - taking 150 mg of the extract of this plant twice a day before meals helps lose about 4.8% body fat in 10 weeks.
- Carnitine (L‑carnitine) — helps lose weight for people who are very overweight and obese, but it does not affect waist circumference and fat percentage.
- Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) - taking 3.4-6.8 g of the supplement per day for 12 weeks helps lose 1.3-1.7 kg of fat, as well as do not dial in the next two years.
- Caffeine — Maybe speed up metabolism at rest by 3-4%, and if taken every 2 hours - by 8-11%. True, addictive effect declining.
- Synephrine - taking 10-53 mg per day with caffeine for 12 weeks Maybe accelerate metabolism and help to lose about 1 kg of weight.
- Forskolin - 250 mg of 10% forskolin extract for 12 weeks Maybe reduce body fat by 11% in overweight people. Indeed, in one experiment, did not work - the same dose of forskolin helped no better than a placebo.
- Fucoxanthin - in one experiment, taking 2.4 mg of fucoxanthin per day for 16 weeks helped obese women lose as much as 5.5 kg more than the participants from the group without additives. However, this is the only human study of fucoxanthin. In addition, one of its authors works for a company that owns a patent for the additive.
- Chromium - intake from 200 to 1000 mcg of chromium picolinate helps lose an additional 0.5-1 kg of weight in 12-16 weeks.
Manufacturers of fat burners are happy to refer to scientific documents confirming the benefits of individual components. At the same time, most of these substances, although they have some evidence of effectiveness, have not been studied enough.
In addition, it is one thing to take one component, the quality and quantity of which was checked in the laboratory, and it’s quite another to consume it as part of a whole cocktail of ingredients that are incomprehensible as each other influence.
Should You Try Fat Burners?
It is impossible to say with certainty that this or that fat burner contributes to weight loss.
The fact is that there are many supplements on the market, and each has its own formula. As a rule, it includes one or more of the ingredients described above, but their quantity and combination is at the discretion of the manufacturer.
In a 2021 system review and meta-analysis checked 21 studies on fat burners. They chose scientific papers that studied the effect of caffeine, green tea, Irvingia Gaboon, L-carnitine, synephrine and other popular components.
As a result, scientists came to the conclusion that, regardless of the composition of the additive, they are not as effective as their manufacturers claim. Taking fat burners does not work better than diet and exercise and does not increase their effectiveness for weight loss.
In other words, you can watch your diet and exercise and lose weight in the same way as if you were also taking supplements.
Moreover, the use of fat burners can cause side effects: negatively affect the psyche and cognitive abilities, disrupt dreamharm the cardiovascular system. And with chronic use, slow down the metabolism instead of speeding it up.
So the magic pill for weight loss has not yet been invented. Proper nutrition, physical activity, good sleep and lack of stress are still the only way to a good figure.
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