Sensa Review Will It Help You Lose Weight?

Can Sensa really help you lose weight?  Well, they claim Sensa is  backed up by “25 years of study.” I was intrigued by the claims made on Sensa commercial and website especially all that stuff about Tastants and weight loss  the so I decided to review  Sensa and see what I could discover.  What follows is my unbiased review of the Sensa weight loss system. My words are based on my own opinions which are grounded in what I know about the science and scientific method, rational thought and what I could decipher from the Sensa website.

Who makes Sensa?

Sensa is made by the company Sensa LLC which is located at 2301 Rosecrans Avenue Suite 1150, El Segundo, CA 90245. The Sensa phone # is (866) 514-2554. According to the Better Business Bureau, Sensa LLC has a rating of A+ as of 1/25/12. The BBB  does list 550 complaints against Sensa LLC including 203 complaints dealing with billing and collection issues but all complaints have been resolved. The company has been a BBB accredited company since 2008.

What is Sensa?

While sometimes called the “sprinkle diet” technically, Sensa is not a diet.  Rather, Sensa is a weight loss product that consists of little sweet and salty crystals called “Tastants”  which, are sprinkled on the food you eat. The idea is that these tasty crystals are absorbed through the tongue and roof of the mouth  that “trick you into thinking you are full. They do this by – in theory -  making you think the food is actually tastier than it really is.

If you look up the word “Tastant” you can see that a tastant refers to anything that stimulants the sense of taste. I mention this because Sensa advertising makes it seem like tastants are something unique to Sensa, when in fact the word is a general term that could apply to anything that has a taste.  Salty, sugary and sour foods all are tastants because they elicit a taste.  Wikipedia has an interesting article on taste that mentions tastants.

According to th Sensa website, Sensa has the following ingredients:

• Maltodextrin. This is a type of carbohydrate.
• Tricalcium Phosphate. This is just a form of calcium. Some previous research has observed that calcium may have a weight loss effect,  but most of those studies used low fat dairy calcium foods (milk etc.) and not a calcium supplement. Also, not all research shows calcium promotes weight loss.
• Silica. This is basically sand and is probably used to give Sensa crystals their hardness.
• Natural and Artificial Flavors. Since Sensa tricks the body by altering taste/smell, I’d like to know what these flavors are but they are not listed on the Sensa website.

Sensa also contains Soy and Milk ingredients.

Sensa is sodium- free, sugar-free, calorie free, gluten-free, and there are no stimulants, drugs or MSG.

Sensa Research

The idea of Sensa stems from its creator, Dr Allan Hirsch who is a neurologist.  According to the website Sofapedia, the idea for Sensa was developed after noting that people with brain injuries that reduced the sense of smell or taste tended to gain weight.  Would making the food tastier, cause these people to eat less – and lose weight? Interesting idea but is there any proof?

Sensa is said to be “clinically proven”.  To back up this claim the website mentions a 6 month long study that consisted of 1436 people. The average weight of the people in the study was 208 lbs.

At the end of the study, those who received Sensa lost an average of 30.5 lbs (about 15% of their body weight). The people not using Sensa lost only 2 pounds.

A few things jumped out at me when I reviewed this study.

1. The study does not look like “published peer reviewed” study that typically is found in medical/science journals. In fact, the pdf file actually says “Abstract”.  An abstract is a summary of a study and may not be peer reviewed.  I often see abstracts listed as “proof” for supplements but they don’t hold as much weight as a study that has been published in a medical/science journal.

2. The study of the 1436 people also does not mention how much Sensa the people used. How many sprinkles did they use on their food? Was it the same as what is being promoted to consumers? It probably is but I could not determine this from the Sensa website.

3. The study did measure “body mass index” (BMI).  The people in this study had a BMI of about 30 which classifies them as “obese”.

Unfortunately the researchers did not appear measure body fat. Considering that they were testing a weight loss supplement, I personally think this was not smart.

The study does indicate that people lost an average of about 30 “pounds” but:

• How much of that was fat?
• How much of that was water?
• How much of that was muscle?
• Did the people in the study also exercise?

I don’t know because they dont tell us. That’s too bad because most people want to lose fat, not just “pounds”.

The Sensa independent laboratory study

The Sensa website also lists study conducted by an independent laboratory. This study also seems to not be  peer reviewed. This independent study consisted of 83 people (78 completed the study) and also lasted 6 months. The results:

• The people using Sensa lost an average of about 27 pounds.
• Those not using Sensa lost about 0.3 pounds.

Again, how much of that weight was body fat? They don’t tell us.

In both of the studies presented on the Sensa website, very little information about how the research was conducted is given. Peer reviewed studies give much more information. This allows others to replicate the study and try to duplicate the findings.

I looked at the National Library of Medicine on 1/25/12 to see if there was any new research on Sensa. I searched for :

“Sensa Weight Loss” – no studies showed up.

That says to me that Sensa has no published peer reviewed research to back up its claims. I find this ironic, since the person behind Sensa -Dr Allan Hirsch – is a scientist.

Personally, I’d like to see a study of Sensa and older adults. As we get older, we often lose our taste. The lack of taste is one reason why older adults eat less. This in turn, contributes to muscle loss and lack of ability to take care of ourselves as we grow weaker. If Sensa works – which is debatable – I think its effects might help older adults more than those who need to lose weight.

 

How Much Does Sensa Cost?

On the Sensa website I see they will give you a free 30 day trial -  BUT if you do not cancel within 30 days you will be charged $89.95 AND you’ll be “enrolled” in an auto ship program where they send Sensa to you each month (at a cost of about $59.95 a month). To opt out of this you MUST SEND BACK THE BOTTLES of Sensa (even if they are empty they say) to not be charged. So, you will have to pay to send them back! Remember this if you do the “Free Trial“.

There is also a 6-month program for $235.

 

Sensa side effects

I was unable to find any side effects for Sensa. Still, if you have any health issues, check with your doctor first.

 

Sensa Supplements

If you order Sensa you may also be offered to also get various supplements too.  For example when I checked there was a supplement caled “Sensa Complete” which cost $49.95 . They say Sensa Complete is an:

“herbal blend of highly specialized nutrients is designed to work in conjunction with the Sensa Weight-Loss System for long-term weight loss.”

The “supplements consist of B vitamins, green tea and other stuff like resveratrol and pyruvate. The  Sensa research does not say that the people in the studies used any supplements. So why do you need them? Since there is no proof that any supplements add to the effects of Sensa I dont recommend them.

Does Sensa work?

I could be wrong but honestly, I dont think Sensa will help people lose weight. I say this based on the research I see and the research I do not see.  As for the claim of that Sensa is backed up by 25 years of research, I see no research on Sensa itself other than the two unpublished studies mentioned above. Sensa is safer than so-called “fat burners”  but until I see better research, I remain skeptical.

 

What do you think?

Tagged as: Sensa