Review: Life Smart Lab’s Acai Fat Burn #3
I stumbled upon Acai Fat Burn #3 last week during a brief period of pre-Christmas surfing at Amazon.com. After looking at the product, and checking it out further at the official web site, I decided Acai Fat Burn #3 would be a great product to perform a review on, as it’s a perfect example of a product you should definitely not buy.
Let’s start with the first reason; acai itself. According to the Life Smart Lab’s advertising spiel, acai…
“Helps lose weight due and naturally boosts metabolism. Acai’s diet, weight loss and cleansing benefits are well know but the benefits don’t stop there. Acai shlps supply greater energy/stamina.”
Let’s set aside for a moment, the most obvious issue; it’s hard to take any company seriously if the folks “behind” it can’t spell or properly construct meaningful sentences (are we to believe that a company that puts such little effort into its web site, is suddenly diligent and focused when it comes to creating nutritional supplements?). Instead, let’s talk about the true nature of acai.
Fact is, acai does not boost the metabolism, nor does it exhibit any mechanism to suggest it aids in weight loss. It does not enhance energy levels, nor does it “cleanse” or “detox” the body. This is all meaningless, marketing gibberish—completely unsupported by any existing scientific evidence—that is perpetuated by the retailers of acai-based products to capitalize on its superfruit status and media celebrity (for more on this, check out my Top 5 Acai-Based Scams article).
In fact, government agencies have already begun acting against acai-based products which make false and unsubstantiated claims.
Although acai is certainly a “healthful” fruit, potent antioxidant, nutritious food, and does offer some additional benefits, it is no weight loss miracle worker.
So what about the “other” ingredients in Acai Fat Burn #3?
According to the advertising, it contains “green tea”, “grapefruit” and “apple cider.”
As to the dosages of these ingredients, and what they are standardized for—if they even are at all—absolutely nothing is revealed. This is a huge red flag, since it prevents us from accessing whether or not the product offers any value for the money (credible retailers simply do not hide the dosage of the ingredients from consumers).
For instance, when properly standardized for the correct compounds and present in the appropriate dosage, green tea does offer weight loss benefits to dieters, although what can realistically be obtained by supplementation is often exaggerated by retailers.
Apple cider vinegar has been used in weight loss pills for ages, despite the absence of one shred of clinical evidence that it actually does something. Well, that’s not entirely true; a small amount of clinical evidenceshows apple cider vinegar delays gastric emptying in people with Type 1 diabetes. For people without diabetes, apple cider vinegar may increase satiety, keeping you feeling fuller, longer. Whether the effect is dramatic enough to reduce calorie consumption to the point that one actually loses weight has not been demonstrated in clinical trials.
And what about the last ingredient, grapefruit?
To repeat, we have no idea what dosage is included here, or if it is included for a standardized extract. It’s possible it is standardized for something called “naringin“, but there is no way to know (naringin is isolated from grapefruit, and boosts the effects of specific compounds, including caffeine – a common ingredient in most weight loss products (but not this one, apparently).
Regardless, there’s only one potentially helpful ingredient here, and we have no idea whether there’s enough present to elicit any effect.
As far as I can tell this product seems to be sold only on Amazon, and—if we are to believe the customer ratings—is both incredibly popular and effective.
Don’t be fooled by this.
Although I don’t have any evidence that this retailer is manipulating the ratings for Acai Fat Burn #3, it is incredibly easy to do (in fact, I discovered this product in the middle of creating a new video for our upcoming videos section, where I show you how anyone can create an incredibly positive feedback profile for any product, for just a couple hundred dollars).
Nonetheless, it’s never a good idea to be influenced by testimonials, since you cannot authenticate any of them, or determine the motivation behind the individuals posting them.
Instead, you must judge the product on the scientific merit of its ingredients, and in this case, there’s almost nothing here.
Couple that with a product that does not appear to be retailed offline and a company that refuses to reveal the details of its product’s ingredient profile, and you have a product you definitely want to skip out on.
