Metabolife Fat Burner Reviews: Metabolife Ephedra Free, Ultra, Ultra Caffeine Free and Complete

Although Metabolife weight loss products and fat burners are generally well-known in the supplement industry, I have avoided a review of their products to date for one very good reason—the top brass of Metabolife appear to be little more than a bunch of crooks. To this point, I certainly didn't feel it necessary to provide them with any additional free publicity.

Nonetheless, many of you have requested information on Metabolife, so I've finally relented. To begin, here's a series of links documenting their unscrupulous behavior...

From Quackwatch: Metabolife Officials Suspected of Massive Tax Evasion (includes IRS affidavit, and accusations that top metabolife officials funneled 93 million dollars in profit into offshore accounts between the years of '96 and '99).

From Consumer Reporter Susan Wornick of WCVB-TV: Metabolife president Michael Ellis was once busted for manufacturing methamphetamine, or crank.

Ellis' Metabolife partner, Michael Blevins, served 5 1/2 years in jail after pleading guilty to manufacturing meth at the same lab.

From the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: A California grand jury indicted Metabolife and its founder, Michael J. Ellis, on charges of fraud and corruption concerning the health risks of the company's ephedra dietary supplements.

From ItVibe: Metabolife fined $100K for using illegal software.

After all that, are you still interested in their fat burner and weight loss products?

Metabolife manufacturers several fat burners, all which contain formulations which can only generously be described as "tepid". Most contain an array of B vitamins, herbs like guarana and yerba mate standardized for their caffeine content, and garcinia cambogia extract -- which a recent JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) clinical study revealed as useless for weight loss.

To be candid, there are simply much better products available to make experimenting with any Metabolife fat burner worthwhile.If you're interested, here's a brief breakdown and description of their products...

1) Metabolife® Ephedra-Free: Contains calcium, chromium, sodium, potassium, and a proprietary blend of...

i) Green tea extract: a powerful antioxidant, glucose moderator, and source of caffeine (a mild thermogenic). Green tea has been shown to increase metabolic rate -- by about 4% in one study (that's less than a hundred calories per day for an average individual). A quality ingredient to be sure, and standard fare in most ephedra free fat burner compilations these days, but don't expect miracles from it.

ii) Garcinia cambogia: standardized for hydroxycitric acid (HCA). Initial studies in animals seemed to indicate a carbohydrate blocking effect, but recent human trials, including the JAMA one referenced above, have shown that HCA has little effect on weight loss.

iii) Guarana & Yerba mate extract: both standardized for their caffeine content, which is a mild, but not overly effective thermogenic (fat burner).

2) Metabolife® Ultra Caffeine Free: Almost identical to Metabolife® Ephedra-Free, but without the green tea, yerba mate and guarana that contribute caffeine to the formulation.

3) Metabolife® Ultra: Identical to the caffeine free version outline above, but also includes...

i) Guarana extract: standardized for its caffeine content.

ii) Taurine: helps stabilize blood sugar levels in both Type I and Type II diabetics, and may also have a positive effect on high blood pressure levels.

ii) Bitter Orange (citrus aurantium) extract: standardized for synephrine, a chemical cousin to ephedra. Unlike ephedra, however, there is little real evidence synephrine contributes to an increased metabolism.

4) Metabolife® Complete: 3 blister-packaged dosages per day -- pre-breakfast, pre-lunch, and pre-dinner. Breakfast and lunch formulations are similar to Metabolife® Ephedra-Free (although slightly watered down). Dinner formula is nearly identical to the Metabolife® Ultra Caffeine Free formulation discussed earlier.

As you've probably guessed by now, I'm not much of a fan of Metabolife. I have a big problem with their ethics, and their products certainly aren't much to write home about either.

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