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FücoTHIN™ Fat Burner Review: A Seaweed & Pomegranate Weight Loss Connection?
 The FucoTHIN™ fat burner consists of two ingredients -- fucoxanthin, a carotenoid (present in seaweed and other marine vegetables) and punicic acid -- also known as conjugated linolenic acid -- which can be derived from pomegranate seed oil.
If you've been researching FucoTHIN™ on the net, you'll no doubt have encountered sales material that touts its ability to boost the metabolism, and consequently, elevate the body's ability to burn fat. Thus, the sales material concludes, FucoTHIN™ eliminates body fat and promotes weight loss without jitters or side effects.
You've probably also read that it's been widely studied. The web site I reviewed stated...
"(FücoTHIN™) ...has been studied by leading scientists for many years and is the only formula that human clinical research confirms aids in the breakdown of fat."
As you might have guessed, there are all sorts of problems with these statements, and I'm going to tell you what they are right now.
First of all, although there have been studies performed on both fucoxanthin and punicic acid, I was unable to locate a peer-reviewed, double-blind, placebo controlled study performed on the FücoTHIN™ formula. That's too bad, because I certainly got the impression from the advertising material that such a study had been performed.
And, despite the studies performed on both fucoxanthin and punicic acid individually, I wasn't able to find one that was performed on the combination of the two.
This is important, since the advertising claims that the two ingredients work together synergistically, providing a greater result -- above an beyond the sum of the each individual ingredient's capabilities -- to promote even greater weight loss.
The advertising material I reviewed didn't actually reference the "clinical studies" claimed to validated the amazing weight loss characteristics FücoTHIN™. The farthest it went was to mention a series of Russian scientific centers where this research was apparently completed.
This would have a lot more impact if the "research" was performed by either North American or European clinicians. There are often large inconsistencies between studies performed in Russia and the old Soviet block (although things may be improving these days) and comparable studies performed in the west. This is likely a result of many reasons -- including lack of clinical funding, flawed methodology and widespread corruption.
Further research by our intrepid staff reviewer Elissa has discovered the "Russian research" referenced (you can read an overview of some of the study details here). According to promoters, it quantifies the amazing weight loss claims of fucoxanthin-based weight loss products. Much of this research was performed by a Dr. Ramazanov whose involvement is highly touted in this article!
Even more promising apparently, is a clinical study "pending publication in the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences."
Despite the fact that the promotional material announcing this "pending study" is dated Sept 2006, neither Elissa or I were able to hunt down the study (as of early 2008). And this is a concern, as Garden Of Life has already been sued once by the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC accused them of making false and unsubstantiated claims, and that they had fabricated the fact that they had clinical studies backing up the effectiveness of several of their products. Of course, there's no evidence that is the case here, but it sure would be nice to see that clinical study published somewhere reputable.
In the meantime, several copycat products (eg, SeaThin and LipoxanThin™) have popped up. Most of these promoters appear to be referencing the same promotional material to validate their product's claims.
Oh, and one other thing. New research is showing that the bioavailability of fucoxanthin (the carotenoid present in FucoTHIN™, SeaThin and LipoxanThin™) is extremely low -- in other words, it is not easily assimilated into the body. At this point, this is certainly not a point in favor of any of these products (see below)...
Br J Nutr. 2008 Jan 11;:1-5 [Epub ahead of print]
Low bioavailability of dietary epoxyxanthophylls in humans.
Asai A, Yonekura L, Nagao A.
National Food Research Institute, NARO, 2-1-12 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan.
Epoxyxanthophylls (epoxide-containing xanthophylls), a group of carotenoids, are ubiquitously distributed in edible plants. Among them, neoxanthin in green leafy vegetables and fucoxanthin in brown algae have been reported to exhibit an antiproliferative effect on several human cancer cells in vitro. However, there is little information about the intestinal absorption and metabolic fate of dietary epoxyxanthophylls in humans. To estimate the intestinal absorption of neoxanthin and fucoxanthin in humans, we evaluated the plasma epoxyxanthophyll concentrations before and after 1-week dietary interventions with spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and wakame (Undaria pinnatifida). The epoxyxanthophylls and their metabolites in the plasma extracts were determined by HPLC after partial purification and concentration with solid-phase extraction cartridges. Even after 1 week of spinach intake (3.0 mg neoxanthin/d), the plasma concentrations of neoxanthin and its metabolites (neochrome stereoisomers) remained very low (about 1 nmol/l), whereas those of beta-carotene and lutein were markedly increased. Similarly, the plasma concentration of fucoxanthinol, a gastrointestinal metabolite of fucoxanthin, was < 1 nmol/l after 1 week of wakame intake (6.1 mg fucoxanthin/d). These results indicated that the plasma response to dietary epoxyxanthophylls was very low in humans even after 1-week intake of epoxyxanthophyll-rich diets.
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So, what legitimate studies have been performed on either of the ingredients included in this product?
I was able to find several studies showing promising results for both fucoxanthin and punicic acid's weight loss abilities. However, all were performed on either rats or mice -- none were performed on human subjects (see Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2005 Jul 1;332(2):392-7, J Agric Food Chem. 2007 May 2;55(9):3741-8. Epub 2007 Mar 30, Nutrition. 2006 Jan;22(1):54-9. Epub 2005 Oct 12, Lipids Health Dis. 2004 Nov 9;3:24).
So what's the bottom line ?
FücoTHIN™ contains two ingredients for which preliminary clinical data shows a propensity for weight loss in mice and rats. The study touted by the retailers -- the one pending publication in the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences -- apparently shows fucoxanthin supplementation can lead to a significant reduction in liver fat, body fat and body weight.
Until we can actually see this study for ourselves however, judgement must be reserved.
Do the ingredients in FücoTHIN™, SeaThin, LipoxanThin™ or any fucoxanthin-based fat burner really lead to weight loss in humans?
Credible human studies are in short supply. For now, the jury is out. While promising animal studies are a great beginning, they are only that... a beginning. It's not uncommon for substances that show promise in animals to have little or no effect in humans.
Conversely, these ingredients may be very helpful to humans.
Unfortunately, we just don't know yet.
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