BITTER ORANGE
Commonly viewed as a replacement for Ephedra, which was banned by the FDA because of it’s health risks, Bitter Orange to date has not proven effective for weight loss. In one study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, the 10 participants actually gained weight over a period of 8 weeks (Dietary Herbal Supplements […]

PHENTERMINE
Phentermine is a drug that suppresses appetite.
In a meta-analysis of studies available from 1975 to 1999 published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the authors found that Phentremine did in fact cause an average weight loss of roughly 8 pounds compared to a placebo (Meta-analysis: Pharmacologic treatment of obesity. Annals of Internal Medicine, 142(7): 532–546).
The […]

ALLI
Alli must work, right? After all, it’s an over the counter version of orlistat (Xenical), a drug prescribed to treat obesity. And sure enough, it does work, kind of.
The studies that have been done so far are on orlistat, not Alli per se. By taking orlistat, you can lose 6 pounds a year. Not a […]

COFFEE
How about coffee? Doesn’t coffee speed up the metabolism? Yes, it does. In a study by the University of Maryland, 10 men between the ages of 65-80 and 10 men between the ages of 19-26 were tested for the metabolic effect of drinking coffee. After drinking coffee, the metabolism of the younger men increased 11% […]

CIGARETTES
Cigarettes are not really a weight loss supplement, but sometimes people, usually young people like teenagers, start smoking with the idea that it will help them control their weight. This is not a completely ridiculous idea. Smoking cigarettes does in fact decrease appetite.
However, in a study done at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health […]

ARE THEY WORTH IT?
In general, I’m not a big fan of drugs or supplements that are supposed to DO something to you. In general, I think that supplements should basically assist the body in doing what it does naturally.
For example, due to pollution, substance abuse, soil depletion, and other problems, we may not get enough […]

EARLY MENOPAUSE
According to a study by Massachusetts General Hospital, smoking can lead to premature ovarian failure (early menopause). The authors of the study were able to trace the cause to the exposure of a class of chemicals present in tobacco smoke that accelerate the death of egg cells in the ovaries (Massachusetts General Hospital (2001, […]

SUMMARY
If you are really serious about your health, getting your lifestyle under control is priority #1.
It’s usually easier for people to take supplements than to change their lifestyle, so by all means go ahead and start taking a good multivitamin and the appropriate supplements (see my post Anti-Aging Supplementation Options for more information), but don’t […]

WESTERN MEDICINE
Western medical solutions (otherwise known as allopathic medicine) should be viewed as a last resort. Why? For several reasons.
First of all, Western medical solutions are designed for acute conditions. That is, you’ve already abused your body to the point that it’s screaming for help (i.e. you’ve developed one of the lifestyle diseases such as […]

SUPPLEMENTS
Supplements are unfortunately necessary (see my post Why People Need to Take Nutritional Supplements for details), but they should not be regarded as a panacea.
For example, it would probably be wise to take a good multivitamin and some other nutritional supplements as nutritional insurance (see my post Anti-Aging Supplementation Options for more details), but it […]