What research reveals about weight-loss aids


While the most effective way to lose weight is to combine a healthy diet with regular activity and exercise, research confirms that weight-loss aids like fat-loss supplements can support your efforts.

Losing unwanted weight and shedding fat is a challenging task for everyone because our bodies are designed to store fat more efficiently than we lose it, which is why there is an entire industry built around transformation challenges, personal training, supplements, diets and other weight-loss aids aimed at helping you shed excess kilos.

Supplements are never a magic solution and only work if you do, meaning we must combine them with the right approach to support our efforts. This should include a balanced and calorie-controlled diet, a consistent exercise routine, and a healthy lifestyle.

When incorporating weight-loss aids into your approach, it is important to understand that fat burners work in different ways.

READ MORE | 5 ingredients to look for in effective thermogenic fat burners

Thermogenic fat burners

Thermogenic fat burners generally contain stimulants like caffeine and citrus aurantium and guarana extracts, along with licensed ingredients such as Sinetrol® Xpur, among others. 

These substances help to boost your metabolism and raise your body temperature, helping you burn more calories throughout the day, even when you’re resting. These supplements can also reduce your appetite. 

Research1 confirms that products with “a specific thermogenic supplement formulation produces a sustained increase in metabolic rate and caloric expenditure and reduces fatigue over 3 hours”.

For these reasons, a thermogenic fat burner like Biogen Thermo Burn is an ideal addition to your weight-loss plan as it can help you burn more calories throughout the day.

Potential benefits of stimulant-based fat burners include:

  • Accelerates fat loss
  • Increases energy
  • Boosts your metabolism
  • Decreases appetite
  • Increases alertness

READ MORE | Acetyl-L-Carnitine supplements are trending on social media… Here’s why

L-carnitine

Weight-loss aids like L-carnitine can help enhance natural fat metabolism, which may help speed up the weight-loss process.

The body breaks down fatty acids for energy inside muscle cells within structures called mitochondria. However, fatty acids cannot pass through the mitochondrial membrane efficiently without sufficient L-carnitine.

Supplementing with a product like Biogen L-Carnitine Liquid  may enhance the efficiency with which your body transports circulating fatty acids into muscle cells, where they are metabolised to fuel muscle contractions.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 randomised controlled clinical trials found that L-carnitine supplements help to reduce body weight, body mass index and fat mass, especially among overweight and obese adults2.

The ideal time to take L-carnitine is before a training session to optimise fat metabolism during periods when your energy demands increase.

Potential benefits of an L-carnitine supplement include:

  • Increased energy levels.
  • Improved endurance.
  • May modestly reduce fatigue.
  • May boost fat oxidation.

READ MORE | Stimulate round-the-clock fat loss with night-time fat burners

Night-time support

Innovative supplement formulations, like the one found in Biogen Night Burn, can help provide additional support for our weight-loss efforts, particularly while we sleep.

These products typically contain metabolism-boosting ingredients that don’t stimulate the nervous system, which makes them an ideal addition to your fat-loss supplement plan for 24/7 support.

For instance, Biogen Night Burn contains a combination of active ingredients that provide weight and metabolic support, lowers inflammation in fat cells, and reduces insulin resistance.

These active ingredients include InnoSlim, a clinically proven3,4 plant-based ingredient that provides weight and metabolic support by reducing glucose absorption in the intestine, increasing glucose absorption in muscle and fat cells, reducing fat accumulation and inflammation in fat cells, and reducing insulin resistance. The effect from this combination of benefits shifts energy balance in favour of fat metabolism.

Ashwagandha is another ingredient included in Biogen Night Burn, primarily for stress-support, which has proven weight management benefits5. Helping to manage stress through adrenal support and better sleep may help to lower cortisol levels, a stress hormone that is closely linked to fat storage and weight gain.

References:

  1. Prather JM, Florez CM, Vargas A, Soto B, Harrison A, Willoughby D, Tinsley G, Taylor L. The effects of a thermogenic supplement on metabolic and hemodynamic variables and subjective mood states. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2023 Dec;20(1):2185538. doi: 10.1080/15502783.2023.2185538. PMID: 36862833; PMCID: PMC9987759.
  2. Talenezhad N, Mohammadi M, Ramezani-Jolfaie N, Mozaffari-Khosravi H, Salehi-Abargouei A. Effects of l-carnitine supplementation on weight loss and body composition: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 randomized controlled clinical trials with dose-response analysis. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2020 Jun;37:9-23. doi: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2020.03.008. Epub 2020 Apr 18. PMID: 32359762.
  3. S.C. Huang, etc. Radix Astragali and Notoginseng saponins improve glucose and fatty acid metabolism through upregulated adiponectin and its downstream signaling. J of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, August 2021.
  4. S.C. Huang, etc. Anti-hyperglycemic and anti-hyperlipidemic activities of Radix Astragali and Panax notoginseng extract in human participants: A randomized, double-blind, crossover clinical trial. J. of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, June 2022.
  5. Choudhary D, Bhattacharyya S, Joshi K. Body Weight Management in Adults Under Chronic Stress Through Treatment With Ashwagandha Root Extract: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial. J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2017 Jan;22(1):96-106. doi: 10.1177/2156587216641830. Epub 2016 Apr 6. PMID: 27055824; PMCID: PMC5871210.

Author: Pedro van Gaalen

When he’s not writing about sport or health and fitness, Pedro is probably out training for his next marathon or ultra-marathon. He’s worked as a fitness professional and as a marketing and comms expert. He now combines his passions in his role as managing editor at Fitness magazine.





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