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The appeal of weight loss supplements is almost universal. In almost any modern society, the cultural norm for beauty is slender and youthful, so it is not a surprise to find that natural weight loss supplements are widely sought after. There are also significant health and economic reasons to recommend weight loss, for any age, sex or lifestyle.
In the United States, 74.6% of adults are overweight or obese. This is the highest per capita percentage in the world and has been steadily rising from 45% in 1960. It is estimated that the direct and indirect costs of obesity through medical treatments and loss of work to be from $61 billion to $117 billion in 2000, with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that expenditures due to obesity in 2003 cost $75 billion.
Obviously, the economic benefits of losing weight are just a background to the physical benefits to the individual. Obesity is a major cause of preventable deaths in the United States, and is a direct cause or contributor to cardiovascular disease (heart attacks), diabetes, sleep apnea, certain types of cancer and osteoarthritis.
The chance of strokes, gout, back injury and high blood pressure are all greatly increased with a very high body mass index. Severe obesity can reduce life expectancy by ten years. Also, obesity makes you far less attractive to the opposite sex. In short, being obese is very bad news.
What can you do about it?
The problem with the weight loss supplement industry is that it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Because weight loss is a difficult thing to categorically prove (a person’s weight fluctuations might be for many different reasons), finding diet pills created by reputable companies can be a challenge. Most experts do not endorse these pills because of the unverified or hard to verify claims by the company.
All is not lost, however, as there are several natural weight loss supplements that you can try that do have scientific evidence to support their claims. As with any diet supplements, check with your doctor in advance if you are on any medication that might be affected by the content of the dietary supplements you plan on taking.
These over-the-counter weight loss pills can be very much hit and miss, but there are several key ingredients that you can look for that have medically proven benefits. The best weight loss supplements should contain one or more of the following in significant amounts.
Studies have shown that fiber is an appetite suppressant. Fiber helps to slow the digestive system, but most people have less than the daily recommended intake of fiber. Increasing intake to recommended levels in study test subjects was reported to reduce hunger levels throughout the day when compared to the control group that had taken a placebo. A word of warning: be careful not to greatly exceed your recommended daily fiber intake, as it may lead to constipation.
A recent study showed that green tea extract supplements were a significant aid in helping obese subjects to lower their body mass index (BMI), but most interestingly to help keep the weight off. Belly fat was most affected, an excess of which is linked to increased blood pressure.
Calcium in a weight loss supplement is another important addition to look out for. While calcium is normally associated with bone and tooth strength, recent studies have shown that it might well be linked to helping with weight loss. In one recent study, dieting women who were given 1,000 mg of calcium a day in supplements (above normal dietary intake) lost more weight on average than women who took a placebo.
The problem with taking in extra natural sources of calcium is that they are often in dairy products, which are generally high in fat.
Herbal weight loss supplements
Herbal weight loss supplements are very popular weight loss aids. The appeal of herbal supplements is that they are advertised to have fewer side effects or no side effects at all, compared to regular synthesized treatments.
Most ingredients sourced for herbal supplements are from the Amazon region. Acai berries are a very common and popular ingredient for herbal weight loss supplements, and they are purported to have strong anti-oxidant qualities, as well as helping with weight loss and diabetes.
The drawback to herbal weight loss supplements is that there is little scientific evidence to back up the manufacturer’s claims. It is not in itself unlikely that açai berries have a beneficial health effect to humans, since many berries do, but the actual quantifiable effects have yet to be determined.
The problem is that açai berry supplement manufacturers have failed to undertake the necessary scientific studies to ensure that the Food and Drug Administration can certify açai products as beneficial. Until this is done, the efficacy of them cannot be legally verified. This does not, however, mean that there is no nutritional value to the açai berry or products derived from it.
Just to reinforce the point, it is best practise to consult your doctor and pharmacist about over-the-counter diet pills, especially if you have any known medical conditions or if you are taking any kind of pre-existing treatments. Although most weight loss pills do not have any major side effects, but there may be something in the supplement that conflicts with a specific medication.
A final important point to remember is that these are weight loss supplements, and not nutritional supplements or dietary replacements. Weight loss is a long, difficult process and hard work and discipline are needed to achieve and maintain it. Supplements for weight loss are a means to help you along to achieve your goal, they will not be able to help you reach your ideal weight if you are not also dieting and exercising regularly.
