AbGone Fat Burner Review: Does AbGone Work?
According to the AbGone advertising claims…
“AbGONE is designed to support healthy abdominal fat loss and help minimize cortisol levels which have been linked to abdominal fat and can cause fat gain.”
These are the same sort of outrageous comments that have already gotten the makers of the popular “belly-buster” Cortslim (reviewed here) into trouble with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). Let’s take a closer look at the AbGONE formula and see if there’s any real merit to the comments. What’s in it?…
1, Phosphatidylserine: it is this ingredient that have facilitated AbGone’s outrageous statement about “minimizing cortisol levels”. According to PDRHealth…
“There is preliminary research indicating that phosphatidylserine, at doses of 400 to 800 milligrams per day, can inhibit exercise-induced increases in cortisol.”
And…
“Phosphatidylserine has demonstrated some usefulness in treating cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer’s disease, age-associated memory impairment and some non-Alzheimer’s dementias. More research is needed before phosphatidylserine can be indicated for immune enhancement or for reduction of exercise stress.”
Several points of note… first, we’re talking about exercise related stress here, which is not generally a common issue for those trying to lose weight.
Second, research is in its preliminary stages at best. Third, we don’t know exactly how much of this ingredient is in the Abgone formula — phosphatidylserine is part of the 820mg AbGone proprietary blend which contains 4 other ingredients.
So it’s hard to tell if there’s enough of the ingredient to offer benefits.
2. CLA (conjugated linoleic acid): I’ve reviewed CLA in detail here, so I won’t go into it all again. Suffice to say that CLA is a good ingredient… at the correct dosage. The optimal dosage is 3 grams daily for women, 4 for men up to 200 lbs., and 5 for those over that (although there is some evidence showing that slightly less (just over 1.5 grams/day) can be effective for fat burning. Unfortunately, the daily dosage of Abgone does not contain nearly enough CLA to be effective.
3. L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Valine: 3 amino acids (the building blocks of protein) that are known as “branched chain amino acids”. These aminos are often used by bodybuilders to facilitate muscle growth, and to prevent muscle breakdown. Once again though, these ingredients are merely eye-candy in this formula — in order to be effective, these need to be taken in multi-gram doses.
4. Dandelion Root & Leaf Powder: useful as a mild diuretic, to eliminate excess water retention. It is the leaves that produce the diuretic effect, while the roots stimulate appetite. (A full review of dandelion root is available here!).
5. Chromium Polynicotinate: very useful for balancing blood sugar levels and perhaps helpful for weight loss, although clinical data is contradictory. A full review of chromium is available here!
Bottom line on AbGone?
There’s simply not enough of the ingredients that matter (CLA, for example) to make this compilation very potent. And there’s insufficient evidence to support Abgone’s claims of cortisol & belly fat reduction via the use of phosphatidylserine. While chromium is certainly useful, there’s no point in spending $30 for a month’s supply of the stuff.
Update: If this Amazon posting is anything to go by, Abgone is… well, gone. In its place is a very similar product called “Dr. Ryan’s Abdominal Fat Reducer.” This new product appears to be a slight improvement over the original, in that it also contains caffeine and green tea extract (GTE), an ingredient with a certain amount of scientific support behind it. Unfortunately, the core of this formula is also a proprietary blend, so it’s difficult to know how much GTE you’re getting.
