180 Body Clinic: 180 Targeted Thermogenic Review

Posted By Paul on Aug 15, 2012 | 0 comments

“It’s time to turn your looks, and your life, around. Do a 180. You deserve it.”

So says the advertising for 180 Body Clinic’s 180 Targeted Thermogenic.

Sigh. If only it were that easy. For most people “doing a 180” probably means making a dramatic change to their diets and lifestyles—just the sort of thing that will make the changes for which they are hoping. Add a diet pill into the mix and not making any changes is not going to bring any changes and can hardly be considered “doing a 180”, but whatever.

So with that said, what’s in the 180 Targeted Thermogenic?

One capsule contains 610 mg of the following ingredients (recommended dosage is 1-2 capsules twice per day)…

1. Caralluma fimbriata: An Indian cactus with “supposed” appetite suppressing powers. Although much has been made about this plant’s obesity-fighting characteristics, there isn’t a whole lot of data supporting its use. One controlled study showed modest weight loss (when 1 gram was consumed daily for 60 days) and concluded…

“While there was a trend towards a greater decrease in body weight, body mass index, hip circumference, body fat and energy intake between assessment time points in the experimental group, these were not significantly different between experimental and placebo groups. Caralluma extract appears to suppress appetite, and reduce waist circumference when compared to placebo over a 2 month period.”

In other words, Caralluma delivered positive, but not earth shattering effects. The other issue, of course, is whether this product actually delivers the 1,000 mg of Caralluma per day, as found to be useful in the aforementioned study.

It’s certainly possible, given that 4 capsules offer up a little over 2400 mg of ingredients, but since the retailer doesn’t provide precise details on the label, we can’t assume this is the case.

2. Emblica officinalis: Also known as amla or Indian gooseberry, this ingredient is included in fat burners for its apparent ability to act as a “beta-2 adrenergic agonist.” This, thanks to one of its active compounds—”phyllemblin.”

Again, there’s not a heck of a lot of published data to validate this claims. To be fair though, Amla is used as an Ayurvedic treatment for asthma and cough, so it’s not impossible that it contains some sort of beta-adrenergic activity.

3. Caffeine: No “over-the-counter” diet pill on the planet is complete without a hearty dose of caffeine, and for good reason; caffeine has a well established record as a mild thermogenic, and does deliver mild weight loss results (see Am J Clin Nutr. 1989 Jan;49(1):44-50, Am J Clin Nutr. 1980 May;33(5):989-97). It also cheaply and effectively addresses the most common complaint of dieters; lack of energy.

4. Olive Leaf: Despite its inclusion here, olive leaf has no demonstrated benefits for weight loss. It is often standardized for oleuropein, an antioxidant polyphenol, and included in products for its touted “immune-system-support” benefits.

5) Coffee arabica: This is coffee—the same stuff you drink in the morning.

Although the label doesn’t indicate it, the coffee included in over the counter fat burners and diet pills is often standardized for chlorogenic acid.

At the time of this writing, the only study I’m aware of that validates the weight loss benefits of chlorogenic acid is an animal study.

It’s impossible to say whether it offers benefits for humans, or if this product even contains a dosage that may possibly be helpful.

6. Rauwolscine: Also known as α-yohimbine or corynanthidine, this is a yohimbine alkaloid included in this formula for its ability to act as an alpha 2-adrenoceptor antagonist.

Marketers are insisting its much better for weight loss than yohimbine, which although helpful, has only demonstrated relatively mild weight loss effects. Despite such assertions, there’s no published evidence to indicate this is the case.

So there you have it; the 180 Targeted Thermogenic in a nutshell.

How’s it measure up?

Well, let’s see; it contains two ingredients for which there exists some human-based evidence of effectiveness (caffeine and Caralluma).

It contains three ingredients for which the value is largely speculative (emblica, coffee and rauwolscine) and one that offers no specific value for weight loss at all (olive leaf).

And of course, we can’t confirm that any of these ingredients are present in doses that correspond to positive study data.

In my books, that hardly makes for a success.

Plus, this product is expensive—it’s selling for almost $70 for a month’s supply at GNC. That’s not good value, especially when you can buy better formulated products for less than half the cost.