How far would you go to lose weight? Every gym in the country is full of people who are proving that pain makes gains and, if you’re trying to get rid of that spare tyre, that you've got to work hard to lose the lard.
But, many people prefer the short-cut remedy of having diet pills - quick fix helpers to lose weight without the work. Worryingly, a recent study by US Department of Defense, Harvard Uni and a global health organisation NFS International, has shown that six brands contain harmful banned substances re-named or not included on the list of ingredients. Here's what you need to know about fat-burning supps.
Swallow the buzzword-strewn advertising and you’ll conclude that fat burners are the ‘rapid-fire’ way to ‘annihilate’ body fat and generally get the body you want without quite so much effort. The marketing bumph works, with yearly sales exceeding £900m. But with broad ingredients list on each bottle, what is in the pills that you’re popping? MH gets into the common additives promising to reduce your love handles.
Suppressing fire
A highly popular chemical in fat burner, glucomannan has an instant effect on your appetite. A natural thickening agent, it absorbs liquid and expands in the stomach to super-size meals from the inside out, helping you feel fuller for longer. The effect sounds excessive, but actually it’s no different to thickening soups. While the benefits have been proven for those suffering obesity, the side effects are just as real; you’ll need to stay close to the facilities, in other words.
Green Tea Party
Green-tea extract is one of the more natural options when it comes to giving your metabolism a boost. Containing plant-derived polyphenols it acts to increase your livers' ability to process out fat. For a short-term kick they deliver, and can help you jump-start weight loss. But be wary once you get back in the gym - according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, green tea extra also increases fat oxidation limiting your ability to use stored fat to power your workouts.
Binding agreement
'Fat-binding' pills stick to fat molecules, making them too big for pancreatic enzymes to break down, sending them straight through your system. Unfortunately, in doing so they can scoop up essential muscle-maintaining vitamins, too. "Consumption can result in malabsorption of useful nutrients and fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K," says Dr Igho Onakpoya, Researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Evidence Based Medicine. "In addition, high levels of caffeine can have laxative effects, leading to diarrhoea and imbalances in body constituents such as sodium, chloride and potassium - necessary for normal body function."
Heavy Metal Hit
The diverse mix of ingredients in fat-burners makes you urinate more frequently, too, resulting in a loss of calcium. Some do try and compensate with extra calcium compounds but these manufactured replacements can overcrowd your intestines, interfering with your natural zinc and iron absorption, effecting oxygen transportation and proper carb breakdown. This can mean your workouts can start to feel heavy, so if you’re training hard you’re better off going clean.
Other news
Do not miss
