Lipovarin - Fat Burning Pills?

This will be my first review for a non FDA approved “natural weight loss pills”. You may already have come across the pill called Lipovarin. This is relatively a new class of fat burning pills and its marketers claims it to be among the best weight loss pills ever?

Without doubt fat burning pills are really sought after. People use all sorts of terms to search for this miracle drug which will help them lose weight without lifting a finger. A few of these terms used are:

Weight loss pill (over 650 searches per day)

Fat burner (over 800 searches per day)

Fat burning exercise (over 155 searches per day)

Fat burning food (over 300 searches per day)

I am sure that you can see the trend here- Desperation…This is quite understandable as everyday most of us think about shedding off some pounds even if we are slightly overweight.

Lipovarin is one such pill which has been marketed in the last few years. Their marketers claim that this is among the natural best weight loss pills and works both as a potent appetite suppressant and as a themogenic fat burning product. As you would already know these are two very strong claims as this seems like a perfect formula. No matter what you believe in to lose weight the single most important factor is caloric deficit and these “fat burning pills” claims to do that in two ways- suppressing caloric intake and increasing caloric output (by its thermogenic effect). Too good to be true, you ask.

Fat burning pills have been marketed for ages and to understand this further we should study the ingredients which make up lipovarin:

1. Citrus aurantium (also called Advantra Z). This is the thermogenic compound for something called synephrine. This is similar to ephedra and as you might already know that ephedra was removed from the market for potentially serious sideeffects. At one point it was thought that synephrine offered all the fat burning powers of ephedra without the serious side effects. Here is a snippet from pubmed regarding Citrus aurantium:

(Am J Cardiol. 2004 Nov 15;94(10):1359-61.) had to say about citrus aurantium...

"An extensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS, and the Cochrane Collaboration Database identified only 1 eligible randomized placebo controlled trial, which followed 20 patients for 6 weeks, demonstrated no statistically significant benefit for weight loss, and provided limited information about the safety of the herb."

2) 7-keto: This is a DHEA metabolite and with no apparent hormonal side effects(as it does not convert to testosterone or estrogen). It seems that this has positive effects on thyroid hormone levels -- without any unwanted side effects of any kind.

In quoting a recent study in his study, Will Brink’s says:

7-keto is a potentially promising weight loss agent!

More studies need to be completed to more thoroughly to demonstrate 7-keto's fat burning ability.

3) Green tea extract: A beneficial ingredient. Green tea exhibits powerful antioxidant activity, acts as a glucose moderator, and has shown to elevate metabolic rate. One study showed a 4% increase in 24-hour energy expenditure. This translates into less than 100 calories per day (for most people). Again it should be made clear that if you are overeating then green tea won't help you.

4) Serotain: contains 5-HTP which is derived from Griffonia simplicifolia. 5-HTP is a precursor to serotonin (a chemical in brain) and is therefore often used to treat mild depression. 5-HTP can therefore increase serotonin levels and influence mood. There is also some evidence that 5-HTP may have an effect on appetite, and mood, but these positive results were obtained with nearly 10 times the amount of active ingredient found in Lipovarin.

4) Carnitine: This is a amino acid which helps facilitate the burning of fatty acids. This has not been found effective for anything under doses of 2000 mg (there are 15 mg of Carnitine in Lipovarin).

5) Metabromine: This is a stimulant derived from cocoa, and is also found in chocolate. This may also have a positive effect on mood.

It seems from reviews not many people have had bad experiences with lipovarin. Some have even claimed to have shed off some weight and therefore claim that these are the best weight loss pills ever. It seems to work best for people who are slightly overweight (10 Lbs). As any other system this is no miracle and the most important supplement one can use in weight loss is common sense. Lipovarin is not among the FDA regulated “fat burning pills” and experience with this is limited. If you do plan to use this and try it out then do so at your own risk. Coming back to the question does lipovarin hold upto its claim for being among the “best weight loss pills” and “best fat burning pills”? I will let you make that informed decision.