Posted By Paul on Mar 6, 2013 | 2 comments

Obesitrol claims to be different than the vast majority of fat burners and over the counter diet pills available on the market today, in that it is…

“… a product backed by solid scientific evidence.”

Uh-huh.

By the time you finish reading this review you’ll have a pretty good idea understanding of just how little that sentence actually means.

Plus, there are other concerns…

1) There’s no way to determine the amount of the various ingredients that are included in this formula. The effectiveness of herbal compounds, is – like pharmaceuticals – entirely dependent on dosage and potency.

Neither is revealed here.

In essence, it hardly matters whether or not an ingredient displays promising or helpful results if your product contains only a fraction of the amount found helpful in a clinical study. This is a common tactic of supplement retailers; tout an ingredient’s “clinical effectiveness” and then include only the smallest sprinkling of it in your product.

2) The “clinical evidence” cited does not always support the retailer’s assertions. For instance, to support the argument for the inclusion of caffeine into the product, the retailers cite this study, which actually shows caffeine on its own has relatively little effect on the metabolism. Instead, it is caffeine and green tea (including the catechin EGCG) that has the greatest effect on metabolism. That would be fine if this product contained an adequate dose of green tea.

It does not contain any green tea at all.

So this study is moot. Ooops.

And get this; the study found that the “maximum observed effect on EE (energy expenditure) was about 2 %. This is in direct conflict with the product’s sales page which says…

“A recent study at the University of Copenhagen[4] confirms this. In a double blind, placebo controlled study, the average subject in the caffeine group increased energy expenditure by 6%.”

No, it doesn’t. Not at all.

3) Obesitrol contains the exact same formula as the diet supplement Apidexin, which likely means the two products are manufactured by the same company. If this is the case, it would not be uncommon. This is another less than admirable tactic utilized by many retailers of diet products sold only online; when sales to start dwindle, simply rename the product, print up some new labels, and continue selling it as a “new” weight loss miracle.

It also means I have already written the Obesitrol review, except it was called Apidexin when I did so.

Not exactly confidence inspiring, is it?

Since everything you need to know about Obesitrol can be discovered by reading the Apidexin review, I am just going to provide an overview of the issues here. Let’s “dig” in to these miracle supplements…

1. Irvingia gabonensis: Also known as African mango, this ingredient gained some major interest when it was featured on the Dr. Oz show. Alas, while there is clinical data validating its effectiveness, the lead author has a patent on African mango for weight loss.

That’s what’s called a financial conflict of interest.

That means when the same person who has the most to gain financially from a positive study outcome is the same person conducting the study, the results need to be viewed with skepticism. To date, there is no independent clinical data verifying this ingredient’s effectiveness for weight loss.

2. Lady’s Mantle, Olive Leaf, Cumin Seed, Wild Mint Leaf (also known as Alchemilla vulgaris, Olea europaea, Cuminum cyminum and Mentha longifolia): These 4 ingredients originally debuted in a product called WeighLevel.

They also appear in Bob Harper’s Smart Weight Loss product and some of the Hydroxycut Pro Series offerings.

Like the aforementioned ingredient, there is clinical data validating this combination’s benefits for weight loss, but once again, there’s a major conflict of interest; one of the authors is directly involved with the company that manufactures WeightLevel (Sprunk-Jansen), and 4 others are tied to a company that has the exclusive rights to distribute the products manufactured by them.

Lastly, the journal the study was published in is not a well known or well respected one.

3.  Cissus Quadrangularis (also known as veld grape): The same researcher who did the studies on the aforementioned African mango, also did the clinical studies on Cissus. He also has a patent on Cissus for weight loss. Again, financial conflict of interest.

That leaves us with one last ingredient…

4. Caffeine: As you know, it is the common stimulant found in coffee, tea, sodas, chocolate, and so on. In other words, while caffeine is a mild thermogenic and has been shown to elevate the metabolism slightly, this is the exact same stuff you very likely consume in generous quantities daily.

Short of giving you an added boost that may make it easier to get through your workout, this is not a miracle fat burner either (otherwise losing weight would be a simple matter of chugging back a couple of extra coffees daily).

As it stands, there’s not a heck of a lot going for Obesitrol. Even it’s low price (around $20 per bottle) shouldn’t tempt you, since that’s a pretty clear indication that some of the more pricey ingredients in this formula (like a properly standardized African mango extract) can’t possibly be included at a helpful dosage.