Guggulbolic Extreme Review: Guggulsterones For Weight Loss?

Posted By Paul on Sep 4, 2012 | 0 comments

Syntrax’s Guggulbolic Extreme is an easy product to review, as it really only contains one ingredient. That ingredient is “guggul” (also called guggulipid) which is standardized for guggulsterones.

What is guggul, exactly?

Guggul is an extract of the resin of a small, bushy shrub known as Commiphora mukul. Common to India and Pakistan and used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries, it’s becoming more and more common to see guggul and its standardized extracts — for example, E&Z guggulsterones — gracing the label of your favorite fat burners.

And there does seem to be some good reason for that.

Several studies have validated guggulsterones’ ability to lower cholesterol levels (see J Assoc Physicians India. 1989 May; 37(5):323-8). On its own, this a valuable characteristic.

Incidentally, a later study published in The Journal Of The American Medical Association contradicted previous studies demonstrating guggul’s LDL-lowering effects.

However, a small body of evidence indicates guggulsterones may also have value as a fat burner (see J Postgrad Med. 1995 Jan-Mar;41(1):5-7) specifically by increasing thyroid T3 hormone levels. How it does this is a matter of some speculation.

Less important to this discussion are guggul’s anti-inflammatory characteristics. Yes, guggul has demonstrated benefits in this regard too!

Nonetheless, an increase in thyroid hormone levels will boost the metabolic rate. Caloric restriction, of course, causes a decrease in the metabolic rate. Keeping the metabolism chugging along happily despite a restriction in calories is about as close to the dieter’s holy grail as you can get.

In other words, if guggulsterones work as predicted, they might very well be just the ideal supplement for the most grueling stage of your diet program.

Now, back to Syntrax’s Guggulbolic Extreme…

Most reviews I have read of this product have been critical, stating that the mere 30 mg of E&Z guggulsterones combined with 500 mg of guggul resin extract standardized for 30 mg of total guggulsteroids makes this product inferior to other products boasting a more intensive E&Z ingredient profile.

E&Z guggulsterones are arguably the most important isomers of guggul — especially when it comes to weight loss and cholesterol lowering effects.

Typical guggulsterone extracts contain between 1-2% E&Z guggulsterones.

Not so.

Not only does Guggulbolic Extreme contain more than enough active ingredients to elicit a response, the blend of more potent E&Z guggulsterones with a standardized guggulsteroid extract is a good one in my opinion.

That’s because including the guggulsteroid extract ensures you’ll receive the benefits of all the guggulsterones — not only those offered by the E&Z isomers. Sure, the E&Z isomers are important. But a product that focuses solely on them does customers a disservice by depriving them of the benefits offered by the other less potent guggul isomers.

Bottom line on Guggulbolic Extreme?

If you want to experiment with guggul’s thyroid-stimulating effects, this product is probably as good as any. And it’s relatively cheap too…if you buy it from an online discount retailer. However, before I’d heartily recommend Guggulbolic Extreme, I’d love to see some larger scale studies performed on guggul and guggulsterones.

Personally, I’d opt for a product that incorporates guggul into its overall fat burning formula. One such product is Isatori’s MX-LS7. You can read my review of MX-LS7 here!