Slim 10 Review: Is Slim 10® A Scam?

Posted By Paul on Nov 10, 2012 | 0 comments

Slim 10® boasts a formula that contains “10 patented effective ingredients.” While this certainly sounds impressive, don’t be fooled by the term “patented.” As Elissa explains in this blog post, it means exactly nothing when it comes to proving that a product actually works (it is, however, great for marketing!).

To be fair, some of the ingredients in Slim 10 do have some promising clinical data behind them, and may indeed be useful in the battle of the bulge. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make Slim 10 any more worthwhile an experiment. Let me explain…

The problem with Slim 10 is the same one faced by any product that tries to jam too many ingredients into its formula; there simply isn’t enough of the individual ingredients to elicit a response, and certainly nowhere near the amount proven effective in the referenced clinical studies.

For instance, Slim 10’s proprietary blend of 9 patented ingredients weighs in at 1572 mg per 3 cap daily serving (the remaining ingredient, Chromemate®, the patented form of chromium, is labeled separately at 200 mcg. Slim 10 also contains 500 mg of hoodia).

We can’t be sure, therefore, just how much of each of the 9 ingredients is included in the formula, but we can estimate that very few will be included in a dosage that exceeds a few hundred milligrams (ingredients are listed in order of highest dose to lowest on the label), and most will fall below that level. If each ingredient is included at an identical dosage, for instance, there would be slightly less than 175 mg of each ingredient present in the formula (1572 divided by 9 = 174.6).

Now, let’s look at just one of the ingredients in Slim 10 to illustrate the breadth of this problem…

1. Super Citrimax®: If you read the advertising material, you’ll see much ado made over a University of Georgetown study. And yes, such a study does exist, and yes, the results were positive.

But when you check the study itself (see J Med. 2004;35(1-6):33-48) you’ll see that these results were obtained with 4666.7 mg of SuperCitrimax® (providing 2,800 mg HCA) divided into three daily doses.

What’s the significance of this?

Remember… the entire, 11-ingredient Slim 10 formula only contains slightly over 2200 mg of ingredients.

If the Slim 10 formula contained nothing but Super Citrimax®, it would take more than two day’s worth of capsules to approximate the size of the dose used in the referenced study.

So we can definitively rule out that there’s anywhere near enough Super Citrimax in this formula to approximate the sort of results demonstrated in the clinical study. Realistically, the formula may contain as little as a tenth to a twentieth of this amount.

And that, my friends, is the issue that confronts the Slim 10 formula for nearly every ingredient. Let’s take a look at the remainder of the formula…

2. Tonalin® (CLA, conjugated linoleic acid): Studies have shown this ingredient to be beneficial for “modest fat loss”. And although studies have shown it to be beneficial in doses from .7 to 4.5 grams daily, the optimal dose for weight loss seems to be 3.2 grams daily (Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 May;85(5):1203-11). Again, that’s significantly more CLA (3200 mg) than the entire 11-ingredient Slim 10 formula.

3. 7-Keto™: If there’s a bright spot in this formula, this is it. A metabolite of DHEA, a steroid hormone produced naturally by the bodies of both men and women. The good thing about 7-Keto® is that it displays no apparent side effects (i.e. no conversion to testosterone or estrogen, and no effect on the sex hormones).

What’s promising about this ingredient is its positive effect on thyroid hormone levels in obese people — again, without any adverse effects of any kind (see Journal of Exercise Physiology, Volume 2, Number 4, October 1999, J Nutr Biochem. 2007 Sep;18(9):629-34. Epub 2007 Apr 5, Current Therapeutics, (7):435-442 2000).

The dosage for these studies was 100 mg, given twice a day. Theoretically, there may be enough 7-Keto® in Slim 10 to be effective, but we really don’t know, since its included as part of a “proprietary blend.”

4. Advantra Z® (standardized for synephrine): Once thought to be a credible and effective alternative to ephedra, research has demonstrated synephrine has very little benefit as a weight loss supplement.

5. Forslean® (Coleus forskohlii extract): The patented version of Coleus forskohlii extract which is standardized for forskolin, a cAMP stimulator. cAMP is a “second messenger.” In other words, this compound is required to “spark” many intracellular processes. An increased concentration of cAMP can have such “total-body” effects as raised thyroid hormone levels and increased fat burning.

While the effects of forskolin and a corresponding positive effect on weight loss have been established in one study (Journal of Obesity Research August 2005, “Body Composition and Hormonal Adaptations Associated With Forskolin Consumption In Overweight and Obese Men”), the results were not overwhelming.

Another study was less positive (Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2(2):54-62, 2005). It concluded…

“Results suggest that CF (Coleus forskohlii) does not appear to promote weight loss but may help mitigate weight gain in overweight females with apparently no clinically significant side effects.”

6. Neopuntia® (prickly pear cactus): The Slim 10 web site talks a lot about this ingredient’s ability to attract fat and bind with it. They neglect to mention that the study validating the effectiveness of this ingredient (“Evaluation of the effect of patented fiber complex from Opuntia ficus-indica on the absorption of dietary fats in healthy volunteers (2003)”) was a tiny one — performed on 10 people.

That hardly constitutes irrefutable proof of the effectiveness of NeOpuntia®. Additionally, the study also doesn’t seem to be published in any respectable journal, as far as I can tell. And, to top it all off, the participants in this study received 1600 mg of NeOpuntia® with each meal. That’s 4,800 mg of this ingredient per day — more than twice the total of ALL the ingredients in this formula.

7. Slimaluma®: The standardized extract of Caralluma fimbriata, an edible plant of Indian origin used by ancient tribal people to suppress hunger. I did find one single study (Appetite. 2007 May;48(3):338-44. Epub 2006 Nov 13) that concluded…

“Caralluma extract appears to suppress appetite, and reduce waist circumference when compared to placebo over a 2 month period.”

While promising, one small study does not constitute irrefutable proof. And, we don’t know how much of any ingredient is included in this formula. The study I just referenced used 1 g (1,000 mg) of Caralluma extract — we can be fairly certain this product contains nowhere near enough.

8. Phase 2® (Phaseolus vulgaris extract): Advertised as a “carb blocker”, a recent UCLA study on Phase 2® concluded…

“Clinical trends were identified for weight loss, inches lost from the waist, energy, and decrease in triglycerides, although statistical significance was not reached. The reason that significance was not achieved was the small number of subjects who completed the study and the wide variability of the results within each group. Further studies with larger numbers of subjects are necessary in order to definitively demonstrate effectiveness.”

You can read the full review of Phaseolus vulgaris here!

9. Carnipure™ (carnitine): Used as a weight loss supplement for ages, carnitine’s results are inconsistent. One study showed positive results with 3,000 mg of carnitine, while another (performed with 2,000 mg/daily) showed less impressive results. Either way, there’s nowhere near enough carnitine present in this formula to have much effect.

10. ChromeMate® (chromium): Although beneficial for blood sugar control, studies validating this ingredient’s effects on weight loss have been contradictory to date. For more, see the full review here!

11. Hoodia: Currently, the most hyped and under-substantiated product for sale on the Net today. For more information, please read the review, but suffice to say there is no clinical evidence Hoodia is good for anything.

Retailers often argue that lower dosages of certain ingredients are acceptable when they are combined with the correct combination of other ingredients in a “precise matrix.” This “unique blend” of ingredients work together, they say, “in a synergistic fashion” providing benefits up and above the sum of their respective parts.

That’s a typical response to criticisms such as mine.

The only problem is that there is no clinical, scientific evidence that this is the case. And unless there is, this is mere speculation. And, since the retailer’s mandate is to sell us products, it’s not hard to see there’s a very significant conflict of interest here.

The other problem is the price… $89.99 for a single box. Wow! For much less money, you could experiment with the correct doses of just a few of the more promising ingredients in this product. For instance, here’s what you could buy at a reputable online retailer like BodyBuilding.com…

• 1 Bottle 90 capsules NOW SuperCitrimax ($9.99)
• 1 Bottle 90 capsules Natrol Tonalin CLA ($14.49)
• 1 Bottle 100 capsules CNS Synephrine HCL ($8.25)
• 1 Bottle 60 capsules NOW 7-Keto Fuel ($19.99)

When it comes down to the bottom line, there’s very little here to justify the high price. Slim 10 would offer a lot more value if it decreased the number of ingredients in its formula, and instead, focused on delivering a potent dosage of a few of the core ingredients. As it stands, it’s an expensive product of indeterminable potency.