Fat Burners

Diet Pills

The most common type of over-the-counter diet pills are those which act to boost your metabolism. These type of pills, "fat burners" we'll call them, are simply chocked full of stimulates which provide a massive energy boost. These fat burners are particularly effective at suppressing appetite and increasing metabolic rate. There are also some ingredients in fat burner diet pills which increase thermogenesis (energy expenditure); all in an effort to make the body burn more calories.

Prior to December 2003 many fat burners contained a well known ingredient called ephedrine, otherwise known as ephedra or ma-huang. Ephedrine is a potent alkaloid which is highly effective at stimulating the heart, lungs, and central nervous system. This ingredient in combination with caffeine and aspirin (the ECA stack) would work as an effective fat burner. Unfortunately the FDA had to ban the use of ephedra after reports of heart attacks, strokes, seizures, and even death could be traced back to this potent ingredient.

Today the ingredient of choice is caffeine - a lot of caffeine! Caffeine stimulates the heart and central nervous system, improves athletic performance, increases energy levels, and elevates metabolic rate. While it's not as effective as the combination of ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin was, it still packs quite a punch. When these caffeine packed diet pills are taken in combination with a healthy diet plan and a moderate exercise program they can be effective fat burners.

Fat Burner Side Effects

Now that ephedra is banned the main ingredient in fat burners is usually caffeine. As a result many of the side effects experienced with fat burner diet pills are similar to those experienced with caffeine, including: sleeplessness, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, nausea, irritability, heart palpitations, headaches, diarrhea, tremors, and vomiting.

A "safe" caffeine consumption is considered to be approximately 300mg per day for the average adult. Even caffeine levels of 400 to 450mg per day have not been associated with any adverse effects, although such high doses are not recommended. That said, some diet pills contain huge amounts of caffeine. Zantrex3 for example contains 160mg of caffeine per pill. If you were to follow Zantrex 3's recommended dose of two capsules, three times a day, that would work out to 960mg of caffeine daily! Very high doses of caffeine have been associated with stomach and abdominal pains, anxiety, restlessness, agitation, confusion, delirium, and seizures.

Ingredients in Fat Burners

As mentioned above, caffeine is the main ingredient found in most fat burner diet pills, yet you may not see it prominently listed in the Supplement Facts. The reason for this is simple marketing. The diet pill manufacture want their customers to believe they're buying something special and unique, this increases the perceived value of the product. So often caffeine will be disguised as guarana seed extract, yerba mata, kola nut, and sometimes even green tea. What all these ingredients have in common is a high concentration of caffeine, especially in the case of guarana seed extract. Other ingredients commonly found in fat burner diet pills include: niacin, calcium, chromium, l-tyrosine, l-carnitine, country mallow, and willow bark.

Increasingly one ingredient in particular is beginning to find its way into fat burner diet pills - citrus aurantium. Citrus aurantium is an ephedra like stimulant and comes from a fruit also known as bitter orange. The concern over this ingredient is its structural similarity to ephedra, raising fear that it may cause similar serious side effects. Citrus aurantium's other common names include: synephrine, bitter orange, zhi shi, citrus bergamia, citrus bigaradia, citrus vulgaris, among others.

Do Fat Burners Work?

Fat burner diet pills will certainly charge you with energy, especially with the dose of caffeine that's regularly packed into these pills. This resulting energy surge will very likely increase metabolic rate as is advertised, but like the other types of weight loss supplements they're not magic pills. It's up to the individual to put this energy to use for its intended and exercise regularly, and if coupled with a healthy diet plan these diet pills may help to promote weight loss.

Fat Burner Diet Pills

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