Healthe Trim Review of Weight Loss Ingredients

The weight loss supplement, Healthe Trim claims to make you High School Skinny. That’s a phrase I never heard before, probably conceived to to get people to long for the good old days” I guess?  I wasn’t skinny in high school so I never had those good old days, but in any event, let’s look at the ingredients in Healthe Trim and discover how it works. Thanks to Cindy, one of the readers of my website, for turning me on to Healthe Trim.

Healthe Trim Clinical Study

On Healthe Trim website there is a clinical study reporting to be proof of how well Healthe Trim works. The study is said to be a placebo controlled double blind study that lasted 30 days and consisted of 60 people. The study is said to have occurred in 2009. Here is what they don’t tell you about this study:

1.  Where this study was is published? There is no listing to where this study was published. If the study was not published in a medical journal then it is not peer reviewed and holds very little weight in my book.

2.  Who conducted this study? Was it the Healthe Trim Company? Was it a college student? They don’t tell us who did the Healthe Trim study. I have no problems with Healthe Trim conducting its own research. I would just like to know who did it.

3.  How much weight did the placebo group lose? This is a biggie! The study is said to be a placebo controlled study. That’s good. They tell us that the people getting Healthe Trim lost an average of 2.43 pounds.

How much did the placebo group lose? They don’t tell us. What if the placebo group also lost 2.43 pounds? What if the placebo group lost more weight than those who got Healthe Trim? If we don’t know how much weight the placebo group lost, then the 2.43 pounds lost by the Healthe Trim group means nothing.

4.  What was the placebo used in the study? If the people in the study could tell the difference between who was getting Healthe Trim and who was getting the placebo, then the study is less valuable. They say people couldn’t tell the difference between Healthe Trim and placebo but any good study would tell us what the placebo was.

In my book these 4 questions are red flags about how good this study was.

Healthe Trim Ingredients.

When I looked at the Healthe trim website (healthytrim.com) I notice a lot of ingredients that I’ve seen in other products. The following ingredients are prominently displayed on the Healthe Trim website.

Hoodia Gordonii. Hoodia is very popular in weight loss supplements despite the overwhelming lack of proof that hoodia supplements work.

The Healthe Trim website has an audio file of Doctor Oz talking about Hoodia to some radio disk jockey (Dr Oz is not talking about Healthe Trim  - although the DJ is). Dr. Oz says “Hoodia Works” –as an appetite suppressant.

Note. Doctor Oz did not say hoodia causes weight loss.

Another thing Doctor Oz does not mention is that you have to eat the raw root of the Hoodia plant. That’s not the same as taking a hoodia supplement.

I won’t reinvent the wheel about hoodia so here is my review Hoodia does it help weight loss and my review of the Hoodia Patch – another hoodia weight loss product.  If you search my website, you will see many other weight loss supplements that contain hooodia also.

Green tea leaf extract. Like hoodia many weight loss supplements contain green tea or green tea extracts as well. This is because people think green tea is healthy AND because green tea contains caffeine.

Caffeine has a mild fat burning effect. When people say that Healthe Trim gives them energy, this is likely the ingredient that does it. How much caffeine is in Healthe Trim? They don’t say. For more info, here are several other supplements that contain green tea: Right Size Smoothies , Avesil ,   Lipozene, Zi Xiu Tang, and SlimQuick

Resveratrol. I could not find any published study showing that resveratrol causes weight loss in humans. There is however some resveratrol weight loss research on lab animals.

In lab rats resveratrol seems to slow the aging process. That’s nice but where is the proof it helps people lose weight. I’ve never seen any research. If you find any let me know.

Caralluma fimbriata. This is a cactus like plant and as such also is sometimes found in weight loss supplements that contain hoodia gordonii. There is a caralluma fimbriata weight loss study. In this study, 50 men and women were given 1000 mg a day of caralluma fimbriata for 2 months.

Those who got caralluma fimbriata reported a reduced appetite and had smaller waist circumferences compared to those who received a placebo. How much caralluma fimbriata is in Healthe Trim? The website does not say.

When I called Healthe Trim they did not want to tell me how much caralluma fimbriata was in Healthe Trim. The customer service rep I spoke with told me that the amounts of ingredients in Healthe Trim are not listed because they are part of a proprietary blend, which stops others from duplicating their recipe.

That doesn’t make sense to me because I was able to locate the caralluma fimbriata weight loss study I just summarized in about 5 minutes. Since there is a study that specifies an actual amount of caralluma fimbriata (1000 mg), then don’t you think they should be touting the amount of caralluma fimbriata in Healthe Trim? But they don’t. Why?

People should demand to know the level of caralluma fimbriata in Healthe Trim.

Coix seed. I reviewed coix seed in my review of the weight loss supplement Beautiful Slim Body.

Other ingredients in Healthe Trim

These were not prominently displayed.

Poria Cocos. This is a type of mushroom that has very preliminary research on a number of issues but when it comes to weight loss, I can’t find anything.

Cassia Seed. This is found in other products like Zi Xiu Tang and Beautiful Slim Body

Lotus Leaf. Lotus leaf is found in several supplements including but not limited to Phentraburn , Vital Factors and Pink Magic

Water Plantain. In some cultures this is used for urinary tract infections. When it comes to weight loss, I see no research to support its use.

Cumquat. No weight loss evidence.

Methionine. This is an amino acid. The Healthe Trim website says methionine is supposed to “support liver function”. What they don’t tell you is that methionine helps the liver if you have been poisoned by taking too much acetaminophen (Tylenol). Acetaminophen can damage the liver if you take too much.

The other thing they don’t tell you is that in very high amounts methionine can cause death. It takes a tremendous amount of methionine to do this. For example, a 160 pound person it would take over 7 grams. That is a lot more than is in Healthe Trim.

I point this out to show that you that “supports liver function” is a vague (but legal) claim called a structure function claim. For more on structure function claims, see the Questions About Supplements Page.

I don’t think people need supplements that contain methionine. Other reasons for this are that some research hints that high levels of methionine may increase heart disease. At least one study notes that cancer needs methionine to grow.

For people wondering if Healthe Trim is safe, I don’t think the methionine in this product will harm anyone but I also see no proof that methionine is needed healthy people looking for weight loss. Methionine is also found in the weight loss supplement Fat Stripper so read that for more info.

 

 

Update 7/25/11. Thanks to Tammy, one of the readers of my site, I became aware that Healthe Trim also contains Garcinia Cambogia (also called HCA) which is a fruit. Some have speculated that garcinia cambogia can inhibit the fat storage process and that is why its in some weight loss supplements – but is there any proof that garcinia cambigia helps weight loss?

Well, one study showed it might. In this study, published in 2002, 12 men were given either a placebo or the placebo that also contained garcinia cambogia.

When the men got the garcinia cambogia, they reduced their food intake by 15%-30%. Interesting.  The men in this study were given 900 mg of garcinia cambogia a day for 2 weeks.

How much garcinia cambogia is in Healthe Trim? They dont tell you. Also keep in mind that this study did not look at weight loss. It only looked at whether HCA helped people eat less. This is important because several studies have noted that garcinia cambogia does not help weight loss.

If garcinia cambogia can help people lose weight or  not is kind of controversial but for now, I am willing to leave the door open until more research is done.

That said, if HCA works, its effect is probalby very minimal if the studies done so far are to be believed.

Garcinia Cambogia (HCA) and Liver Problems

In 2009 the FDA recieved reports of liver failure from HydroxyCut  – a supplement that contained garcinia cambogia.  At that time the FDA had 23 reports of liver problems including 1 person who died.

Other issues reported from hydroxycut use included rhabdomyolysis (muscle cell death) and kidney failure.  Here is a review of the liver failure hydroxycut issues.

But did garcinia cambogia cause liver problems or was it something else in HydroxyCut?  Or was it a combination of garcinia cambogia and other ingredients? Nobody knows.

At this time I am not aware of any research that specifically links garcinia cambogia (by itself) to liver failure. That said if you have had liver problems, its best to avoid supplements that contain garcinia cambogia until more is known.

 

Mulberry Leaf. Like several other ingredients already listed, mulberry leaf is also found in other weight loss supplements like Zi Xiu Tang, Phentraburn and Beautiful Slim Body.

Gymnema Sylvestre. I covered this ingredient when I reviewed the weight loss supplement Glucotor v2

Eleutherococus Senticosus. This is the fancy name for Siberian Ginseng. Apart from some studies finding that Siberian ginseng may reduce flu symptoms, I can’t find anything proof it helps weight loss. On the Healthe Trim website they say it “promotes weight loss”. Where is the proof? They also say Siberian ginseng “reduces stress”. Again where is the proof?

As an aside, I have a big chapter on all the main types of ginseng in my book Nutritional Supplements What Works and Why so if you have that book just turn to the ginseng chapter.

Pyruvate. I was one of the first people in America to take a long hard look at the pyruvate weight loss research in the 1990s. I would have felt a little better about Healthe Trim if pyruvate was one of the premium ingredients on the main page of the Healthe Trim website. Instead, you have to click “other ingredients” to see it.

That tells me there is not a lot of pyruvate in Healthe Trim. This is bizarre because out of all of the ingredients in Healthe Trim, Pyruvate has the best quality weight loss research.

Pyruvate was popular in the 1990s but quickly fell from grace after people like Bill Sukala PhD and myself started asking tough questions about the pyruvate weight loss research.  Bill Sukala even wrote a peer reviewed paper on pyruvate.  Stay tuned for my review of pyruvate in the near future.

Who are the people on the Healthe Trim website?

Dr Scott Carol (Michael Scott Carol). According to his Linkedin profile Dr. Carol is a senior partner at Atlanta Allergy and Asthma in Atlanta Georgia (atlantaallergy.com). He is also the owner of Doctors Care Weight Loss. He has also authored a book called Be Fat Free Forever (1996), which according to the Atlantaallergy.com site “serves as the foundation for Doctors Care Weight Loss Healthy Living, Inc.”. Dr Carol has participated in several published peer reviewed studies on the topic of asthma.

Matthew Dwyer. Matthew is the founder of Healthe Trim. The website claims that Matthew lost 45 pounds in 90 days but I could not tell whether Healthe Trim caused that weight loss. Monique -  the perky woman with the great abs talking when you first arrive at the Healthe Trim website  – is the wife of Matthew Dwyer.

How much does Healthe Trim cost?

You have to give them your name, email, zip code and gender to get to the page that tells you that Healthe Trim costs 54.95 per bottle. There is also a $7.95 shipping and handling charge which brings the total to $62.90 a month.

Other Healthe Trim products

The Healthe Trim website lists several other products such as vitamins, minerals, “heart health” supplements and cleansing supplements. I don’t feel any of these products are needed.

How to return Healthe Trim

Healthy Life Sciences LLC is the company that makes Healthe Trim. The website lists the Healthe Trim business address is the Northridge Business Park located at 8601 Dunwoody Place Building 400, Suite 418 Atlanta, Georgia 30350.  To speak to customer service call 888-456-TRIM (8746).

What do you think?