Lipozene: The Complete Evidence-Based Guide

As humans, we’re instinctively driven to good deals, shortcuts, and quick fixes.

So, it’s hardly surprising we take this same attitude when it comes to weight loss. 

Most people don’t want to hear that the key to successful weight loss is improving body composition by creating a calorie deficit and lifting weights. 

Instead, they want pills and powders that will help them shed unwanted pounds without changing a thing about their eating or exercise habits.

And let’s be honest—who wouldn’t want that? 

Assuming a weight loss supplement was safe, effective, and affordable, why not use it to lose weight instead of working out or changing your diet?

Well, that’s the promise most supplement companies bank on, which is why U.S. consumers spend nearly two billion dollars per year on weight loss supplements.

One of their favorite cash cows is Lipozene which, according to the manufacturer, promises to help you “Lose weight without changing your lifestyle!”

They also claim their supplement is based on sound scientific research, and you can find plenty of anecdotal reports of people who claim it helped them lose weight. 

Is this true, though? 

Is Lipozene the holy grail of weight loss supplements—able to help you lose weight without eating less or exercising and without nasty side effects? 

Read on to find out.

 

Table of Contents

• What Is Lipozene?
• How Does Lipozene Work?
• Can Lipozene Help You Lose Weight?
• What Are The Side Effects of Lipozene?
• 3 Weight Loss Supplements Better than Lipozene
• 1. Caffeine
• 2. 5-HTP
• 3. EGCG
• The Bottom Line on Lipozene

What Is Lipozene?

Lipozene is marketed as a popular, scientifically-proven weight loss supplement that helps reduce appetite.

According to the company that manufactures Lipozene, Obesity Research Institute, LLC, it can help you lose fat while continuing to eat all the foods you love and without changing your diet or exercise routine.

The core ingredient in Lipozene is glucomannan, a water-soluble fiber that’s often used in products as an emulsifier and thickener and is derived from the roots of the konjac plant. In fact, that’s the only active ingredient in Lipozene. 

Glucomannan absorbs water in your digestive system, which increases feelings of fullness, which in turn helps you eat less.

While “konjac” may sound strange to you, it’s already been used in another weight loss product for years—shirataki noodles—the low-calorie pasta substitute you may have seen in health food stores.

Summary: Lipozene is a popular weight loss supplement that contains glucomannan, a kind of soluble fiber that reduces appetite. 

How Does Lipozene Work?

Lipozene is just the product name of a fancy kind of fiber. 

We know, based on observational data, that people who eat more fiber have a reduced risk of being overweight or obese. Plus, eating more fiber has a number of other health benefits, which you can learn about in this article: 

How Much Fiber Should You Get Every Day and Why?

So, it’s logical to conclude that Lipozene would have similar benefits to other kinds of fiber.

That begs the question, though, why not just get more fiber from foods like oats, apples, and brown rice instead of a comparatively expensive weight loss supplement like Lipozene? 

Well, according to the manufacturers of Lipozene, their product offers unique weight loss benefits due to its gel-forming properties. Glucomannan, the active ingredient in Lipozene, can absorb up to 200 times its weight in water. (That is, one gram of glucomannan can absorb up to 200 grams of water).

For comparison, the kind of soluble fiber found in apples, bananas, and oranges—pectin—can absorb up to around 10 times its weight in water.   

A serving of Lipozene contains 1,500 mg of glucomannan, which can absorb up to 300 grams of water in the stomach.

This gel of glucomannan and water does two things in the body:

• It increases gastric distension
• It slows gastric emptying

In other words, glucomannan increases the bulk in your stomach, triggering receptors in the lining of the stomach to send a signal to the brain that it’s full. It also prolongs this effect by slowing down the rate at which food leaves the stomach.

And the more full you feel during after meals, the less likely you are to eat throughout the day, which can lead to weight loss.

Before you get too excited, though it’s important to note that appetite regulation is a complex system that relies on more than just how full your stomach is or how slowly food leaves the stomach. 

A number of other factors such as levels of the hormones leptin, ghrelin, insulin, PYY and GLP-1, the palatability of the foods you’re eating, the environment in which you eat, and numerous other factors can influence how much we consume in a given meal. 

The takeaway? 

Just increasing the amount of food in your stomach doesn’t guarantee you’ll eat less.

There’s also some evidence glucomannan may bind to fats and reduce the amount of energy absorbed in the small intestine, thereby reducing calorie intake. However, this effect is probably too small to have any meaningful effect on weight loss, and you can achieve the same result by eating more fiber from fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.

Another interesting weight loss tidbit is that soluble fibers, like glucomannan, have been shown to feed healthy bacteria in the gut. These bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids which may also affect appetite. There’s not enough research to show how much this affects appetite or weight loss, though, just that it probably plays a role. 

Summary: Lipozene works by absorbing water in the stomach and slowing the digestion of food, which sends signals to the brain that you’re full, thus helping you eat less throughout the day.

Can Lipozene Help You Lose Weight?

What sounds good on paper often doesn’t work out in reality.

What’s more, even if a weight loss supplement works in the short term (days, weeks), that doesn’t mean it will work in the long term (months, years). 

Of course, weight loss is a long-term process and weight loss maintenance a lifelong endeavor, so what really matters is how well a weight loss supplement helps you lose weight and keep it off over the long run.

So, how does Lipozene stack up in this regard?

In one five-week study, researchers from the Institute of Clinical Medicine in Norway compared the effect of various commercial fiber supplements (glucomannan, guar gum and alginate) on weight reduction in otherwise healthy overweight people.

One hundred and seventy six men and women were prescribed a 1,200-calorie diet, and randomly assigned to one of the following three groups:

1. Group one took a supplement containing 4,320 mg of glucomannan plus 900 mg of guar gum and 900 mg of alginate per day.
2. Group two took a supplement containing 1,240 mg of glucomannan per day.
3. Group three took a supplement containing a mixture of 420 mg of guar gum and 420 mg of glucomannan.
4. Group four took a placebo.

Everyone was required to consume the fiber supplements or placebo three times per day with 250 ml of water 15 minutes prior to meals. 

The researchers also weighed everyone weekly and required the participants to return the wrappers of their supplements to prove they ate them.

The result? 

After five weeks, the people who took the glucomannan supplements lost 3.7 pounds more on average than the people who took the placebo. 

There are a few reasons it’s worth taking these results with a grain of salt, though.

First of all, the placebo group lost on average 5.3 pounds and all of the other groups lost between 8 to 10 pounds, which doesn’t make much sense. 

For example, despite group one taking 10 times more glucomannan than group 3, group one lost almost the exact same amount of weight. One the one hand, you could say this means glucomannan does help with weight loss, but taking progressively larger doses doesn’t lead to greater results. 

On the other hand, a more likely explanation is that the subjects’ diets were responsible for the differences in weight loss between groups. Everyone in this study was supposed to be eating 1,200 calories per day, but it’s quite likely some groups stuck to their diet better than others. 

While the researchers took some pains to make sure the participants stuck to their diets, no one was looking over their shoulders while they ate or preparing their meals, which makes it possible that the people in the placebo group ate more than those in the groups taking glucomannan.

To be fair, though, it could be that the groups taking the glucomannan supplements felt less hungry, which enabled them to better stick to their calorie target compared to the placebo group.

Nevertheless, before you start champing at the bit to buy Lipozene, remember that results like this need to be replicated before you can be confident they’re legitimate. 

And that’s a problem for Lipozene, because these results haven’t been replicated in other studies.

A systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by scientists at University of Connecticut found only a slight benefit of consuming glucomannan for five weeks. In this case, people taking glucomannan supplements like Lipozene only lost an additional 1.5 pounds over 5 weeks compared to people taking a placebo—or about 0.3 pounds per week. 

Once again, it’s also hard to say how much of this was actually due to the glucomannan supplements or changes in people’s eating and exercise habits during the study. 

Other research shows even more disappointing results.

A recent randomised controlled trial conducted by scientists at the Medical University of Warsaw found that taking 3 grams per day of glucomannan for 12 weeks resulted in no weight loss in overweight children and adults.

Another similar study conducted by scientists at the Department of Clinical Physiology and Occupational Medicine in Sweden found that despite lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels, people who took 4 grams of glucomannan per day for four weeks didn’t lose any more weight than people who took a placebo.

Finally, the most recent and well-conducted systematic review condcuted by scientists Medical University of Warsaw, concluded, “In overweight or obese adults there is limited evidence that glucomannan supplementation may help to reduce body weight.”

That’s being diplomatic. Really, when you look at the totality of the scientific evidence, there’s very little reason to believe Lipozene will help you lose much weight. 

It’s also important to note that most of the studies that showed glucomannan (Lipozene) caused weight loss lasted only 5 weeks or less, while the one study that lasted 12 weeks showed it didn’t cause any weight loss. This suggests that people probably get used to the filling effects of glucomannan and compensate by eating more over time. 

Summary: Most research shows glucomannan (Lipozene) can help you eat slightly less and lose weight over the short term, but it’s likely this effect fades over time. Even in studies where Lipozene causes weight loss, it’s typically only an extra pound or two over 4 to 5 weeks.

What Are The Side Effects of Lipozene?

One major benefit of Lipozene is that unlike some other fat loss supplements in the past, such as Hoodia, Lipozene has very few negative side effects.

While most studies reported no serious side effects, some studies noted participants suffering from gastrointestinal distress, including bloating, increased gas, and diarrhea, which is fairly common when people suddenly increase their fiber intake. 

3 Weight Loss Supplements Better than Lipozene

If this article has let the wind out of your sails, I understand.

The truth is there’s no supplement that will help you lose weight or build muscle without also changing your diet and exercise habits. 

That said, there are supplements that can help you lose more fat or build more muscle when combined with a sound diet and training plan. 

When it comes to weight loss, here are three supplements worth considering: 

1. Caffeine

Caffeine can help accelerate fat loss by increasing the amount of catecholamines in your blood, which help mobilize fat stores which can then be used for energy. These chemicals also raise your body’s basal metabolic rate, which helps you burn even more calories.

Caffeine can also have an appetite suppressing effect which may make it easier to maintain a calorie deficit. 

To supplement caffeine for a prolonged period of time, take 100 to 200 mg twice a day (200 to 400 mg/day). 

People unused to caffeine should start at the low end of this range. It’s also best to take this caffeine fairly early in the day to make sure it doesn’t interfere with your sleep. For example, you could take your first dose at 7 AM and your second dose at 11 AM.

If you’re interested in a convenient caffeine supplement that also contains several other ingredients that can improve your workout performance, check out Legion’s pre-workout supplement, Pulse.

Click here to learn more about Pulse.

2. 5-HTP

5-HTP is a precursor to serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that induces feelings of happiness, and which has been proven to increase satiety (fullness) when taken with meals.

It may also reduce carbohydrate cravings in particular, and fewer and less intense carbohydrate cravings usually translates into reduced overall food intake and possibly weight loss.

You can buy 5-HTP as a standalone supplement, but you can also find it in Legion’s fat burner Phoenix, which contains seven other natural ingredients scientifically proven to accelerate fat loss. 

Click here to learn more about Phoenix.

3. EGCG

Finally, you could consider supplementing with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is the most abundant and bioactive catechin (a type of phytochemical) found in tea, and it works by enhancing the effectiveness of the natural fat-burning molecules produced by your body.

Specifically, EGCG works by inhibiting catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), an enzyme that helps degrade catecholamines, which as you may recall from above, help break down stored body fat. 

This inhibition of COMT allows catecholamines to liberate stored fat over a longer period of time, thereby providing your body a greater chance to use those fatty acids for fuel.

It’s been shown to reduce abdominal fat in particular.

You can also find EGCG in Legion’s fat burner, Phoenix.

Click here to learn more about Phoenix.

The Bottom Line on Lipozene

Lipozene is said to harness the power of a special kind of soluble fiber to help you lose weight without changing anything about your diet or lifestyle. 

The truth, as you might imagine, is quite different. 

Lipozene works by absorbing water in the stomach and slowing the digestion of food, which sends signals to the brain that you’re full, thus helping you eat less throughout the day.

That’s the idea, anyway.

While Lipozene has been shown to help cause a small amount of weight loss over the short term (an 1 or 2 pounds of fat loss over 4 to 5 weeks), research shows it doesn’t seem to cause much of any weight loss over the long term (12 weeks). 

Furthermore, even in studies where Lipozene seems to have caused weight loss, it’s possible other factors were really responsible for the results. 

That said, it probably does have some small benefit. 

This creates a question, though: should you spend money on a fiber pill when you can get similar benefits from other foods?

I think not. 

There are plenty of other healthy, tasty, and filling foods that contain not just soluble fiber like glucomannan but many other nutrients as well. It’s likely you can get most or all of the benefits of Lipozene simply by following a diet high in soluble fiber by eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

And if you want to get the same kind of fiber found in Lipozene, you can eat some shirataki noodles.

The bottom line: Lipozene isn’t going to do the work for you. You’re still going to have to maintain a calorie deficit to lose body fat. 

And the best way to do that is to eat a healthy diet, follow a well-designed meal plan, and lift weights. If you’re already doing all of that and you can to accelerate fat loss even further, you can take a handful of supplements like caffeine, 5-HTP, and EGCG.

Do that for several months, and you’ll be happy with the results.

What’s your take on Lipozene? Have anything else you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments below!