Weight Loss Pills – Are They Effective

Weight loss comes with such a mass appeal that its hard to resist. With weight loss pills trending a lot in market, you will get to see millions of people lightening their wallet for this latest weight loss fad. Though weight loss is essential for a healthy life, but do you  actually need to rely on slimming pills to get back in shape? Lets find out the truth behind some popular weight loss pills that work according to the claims they make and what they don’t do for your body.

Set Realistic Expectations

Trust me, there is no such thing as magical pill that can help you in losing weight miraculously. The only and the most effective way of losing weight is to make considerable changes in your lifestyle. Eat a healthy low calorie diet, include lots of fresh veggies and fruits in your diet and indulge in some sort of physical activity. However, if you are indulging yourself in some serious exercising regimen at gym then including some kind of whey protein in your diet will certainly be recommended.

Natural weight loss pills, weight loss supplements, prescription and nonprescription medicines are all just tools that can aid your weight loss process. None of them is capable of providing effective weight loss results by itself and this has been proved by several studies as well.

A 2014 research conducted to review the trial on prescription weight loss drugs concludes that, the efficacy of any prescription weight loss drug increases if it is coupled with appropriate lifestyle changes and it likelihood of achieving clinically meaningful weight loss also increases.

Here, ‘clinically meaningful weight loss’ refers to weight loss that will lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc. This kind of weight loss constitutes around 5% of your total body weight.

However, the research finding never denied on the possible side effects and adverse reactions of even the best weight loss supplements. In some cases, these side effects may also affect the treatment outcome, which although remains very exceptional. However, an important fact to consider here is that these weight loss pills are no magic formula, they do not work same for everyone and sometimes their outcome can be very modest.

Best Diet Pills: What They Claim?

Almost all the best slimming pills and supplements are marketed as ‘clinically proven’ for effective weight loss. But they never produce any evidence to support their claim. For example, raspberry ketones has always been marketed as an clinically proven and natural weight loss supplement. But till date, hardly any clinical trial has been published that can bring some light to the effectiveness of raspberry ketone in weight loss.

One such trial published in 2014 has come up with the following findings:

• A common weight loss pill is used for eight week trial, which is a combination of multiple ingredients that include raspberry ketone, ginger root extract, bitter orange, vitamins, minerals and some other herbs.
• Some seventy obese adults were part of the trial and were placed on restricted diet and exercise regimen. Also they were divided in two groups, wherein one was given the weight loss supplement and other choose placebo (an inactive ingredient)
• After the completion of the trial, group that was assigned recorded average weight loss of 4.2 pounds, whereas group that went with placebo recorded average weight loss of 0.9 pounds only.
• While the difference in weight loss for the both groups was significant, one cannot guarantee whether the supplement aided weight loss will be promoted over the long term as the trial was for 8 weeks only.
•  Also, because the supplement included several other ingredients, it cannot be concluded that the weight loss was caused because of raspberry ketone only.

Thus, it can be summarized that the method and duration of trial cannot provide any sufficient evidence about the potential weight loss benefits of raspberry ketone.

Weight Loss Supplements & Safety Concerns 

Lack of knowledge make people fall for the claims that weight loss pills make. Sometimes banned or potential harmful ingredients are also used in manufacturing such pills. One such example is of Ephedra, it is a herbal stimulant used quite often in weight loss products. In 2004, FDA banned the inclusion of this ingredient in any medicine or supplement because of its side effects that include mood swings, irregularity in heart rate, hypertension, seizures, heart attack and strokes.

These days, bitter orange is being used as a so called ‘ephedra substitute’ in weight loss pills. The active ingredient of bitter orange contains chemical properties and is quite similar to ephedra. This means it might have the same adverse effects like ephedra, but no proven evidence against its adverse effects has been published yet. Thus, the safety concern of such products is well understood.

Limited research and knowledge has made it really difficult to understand whether weight loss pills are effective or not. This also raises questions over the safety of any weight loss supplement. Also, if a product is natural it doesn’t mean that its safe too to consume, so its better to get in touch with your doctor before you begin your dose of weight loss pills. Instead of falling prey to such medicines, follow natural 10 best weight loss tips to begin your healthy weight loss journey.