Noxycut Fat Burner Review: Burn Fat And Pack On The Muscle?

Sold online (from eBay and a web site) Noxycut claims to do more than merely prevent the loss of muscle mass normally associated with dieting. It claims to increase it. According to the Noxycut web site...

" The average user will pack on a pound of rock hard muscle for every pound of body fat lost."

This rather amazing accomplishment is thanks to the "blend of the world's most powerful fat burners, testosterone boosters, and muscle building nutraceauticals in the world!"

Too bad none of this true. Let me explain why...

First of all, the claims made by Noxycut -- lose weight AND build muscle at the same time, -- are physiologically contradictory. You see, losing weight requires a caloric deficit. Building muscles requires a caloric surplus. Although some advanced high intensity exercise programs claim otherwise (check Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training) it's almost impossible to accomplish both at the same time.

That's why bodybuilders go on "mass" and "cutting" cycles. In the mass cycle, they consume surplus calories and build as much muscle as they can. In the cutting cycle, they restrict calories in an effort to rid themselves of fat while maintaining as much muscle as possible. And trust me, these guys face this reality despite taking the most potent anabolic steroids in the world.

You see, elevated testosterone levels do not prevent the loss of muscle mass in the face of caloric deficit -- although they can certainly slow it. But they certainly do not increase muscle mass. The body simply cannot create new muscle mass without the raw material necessary to do so (calories -- from protein, fats, and carbohydrates). It's sort of like asking a carpenter to build a garage with 2 pieces of lumber. There simply isn't the raw material available.

And that's assuming the ingredients in Noxycut actually do anything to boost test levels. Let's have a closer look at the formula. Noxycut boasts 3 complexes -- test boosters, muscle cell builders, and fat burners. Let's start with...

1) Test boosters: includes tribulus terrestris, eurycoma longifolia 100:1 (also known as tongkat ali) and L-Glutamine.

i) Tribulus: To date, I've found no studies that validate tribulus' ability to boost testosterone levels. In fact, I found two that showed the opposite (Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2000 Jun;10(2):208-15, J Ethnopharmacol. 2005 Oct 3;101(1-3):319-23). Yes, they indicated that tribulus had no effect on either body composition or androgen (testosterone) production.

ii) Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali) : a flowering plant native to Indonesia and Malaysia, eurycoma has been used for years as an aphrodisiac. But as a potent testosterone booster? Well, there's a few studies -- all performed by the same people -- that validate this ingredient's ability to increase the sex drive of middle aged and old rats (see Phytomedicine. 2003;10(6-7):590-3, Exp Anim. 2000 Jan;49(1):35-8 and J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol 15 (3-4): 303-9).

Only a single, small study shows any positive effects for humans (Br. J. Sports Med. 37: 464-70), and it did show and increase in muscle strength.

Nonetheless, the jury is still out on eurycoma. While some initial results are promising, it's certainly not the "world's most powerful testosterone booster."

iii) Glutamine: A "conditionally-essential" amino acid, and a great supplement... but it has no effect on testosterone levels. Glutamine is best used to enhance recovery times between exercise sessions, boost the effectiveness of the immune system and other extended periods of stress (glutamine may be especially effective as a post-surgery recovery supplement).

And unfortunately, there's not enough L-glutamine in this supplement to do anything but "spice up the label". You need to take glutamine in multi-gram dosages in order for it to be effective -- since the stomach uses so much of it for itself.

2) Muscle cell builders: includes creatine ethyl ester, glutamine, and arginine.

None of these ingredients actually build muscle. What do they do?...

i) Creatine (reviewed in full here): As a sports performance supplement, creatine is a "no-brainer." It provides the raw material to enhance the production of energy in the muscle cell (it re-energizes the ATP energy molecule).

By providing the body with large amounts of raw creatine, your muscles have the necessary raw material to perform more intense contractions (work) with less recovery time.

And, there are plenty of studies that validate creatine's effectiveness on athletic performance (see J Am Diet Assoc. 1997 Jul;97(7):765-70, Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2002 Feb;34(2):332-43, Med SCI Sports Exerc. 1998 Jan;30(1):73-82).

What you'll notice if you check any of these studies is that they were performed with subjects taking anywhere from 20 grams per day of creatine and up. And although the creatine used in the Noxycut formula (creatine ethyl ester) is advertised as being a more potent and more easily assimilated form of creatine, there is no scientific evidence to indicate it is any more (or less) effective that creatine monohydrate. Nor is there nearly enough of it included in this formula to elicit any sort of response (Noxycut only contains 100mg of creatine).

Ii) Arginine: An amino acid that is a precursor to nitric oxide (NO2).

NO2 performance products -- like BSN's NoXplode (reviewed here) Gaspari's SuperPump, Labrada's SuperCharge and Ultimate Nutrition's HorsePower are very popular these days as they lead to increased pumps and greater nutrient shuttle to the muscle cells.

However, you need to take a least 3 - 6 grams of arginine -- that's 30 to 60 times the amount included in this formula -- to elicit a response. The 100 mg included in this formula is nothing more than "label dressing" (it looks impressive, but accomplishes nothing).

iii) Glutamine: As mentioned earlier, L-glutamine is a great "recovery" supplement -- but only if its used in multi-gram doses. Heck, one study (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 61, 1058-1061) even showed that a 2 gram dose of glutamine elevated plasma growth hormone levels. Alas, Noxycut only contains 100 mg of glutamine -- 1/20th of the amount used in this study.

As far as being a "muscle cell builder?"

There are plenty that clinical studies that indicate glutamine has no positive effect on muscular performance whatsoever (see J Strength Cond Res. 2002 Feb;16(1):157-60, Sports Med. 2003;33(5):323-45) even at the appropriate high dosage.

3) Fat Burners: this element of the Noxycut formula contains a smattering of 5 ingredients -- synephrine, guggulsterones, yohimbe, caffeine and cinnamon.

Caffeine is a well- documented fat burner, but there's little documented evidence for either synephrine or yohimbine -- and there's only a small amount included in this formula anyway.

Same for guggulsterones -- there's a only a tiny amount of active ingredient in this formula. Cinnamon's positive effect on blood sugar levels is probably the reason for its inclusion in this formula.

Bottom line on Noxycut?

Basically, it's an overpriced tribulus product. With the exception of eurycoma longifolia and caffeine, none of the other ingredients in this formula are present in large enough amounts to elicit any response. If that weren't bad enough, clinical data validating either tribulus' or eurycoma longifolia's effects on testosterone is darn short supply.

And the claims of "burning fat and building muscle at the same time?"

Totally bogus -- and certainly not validated by any scientific data, anywhere.

If you must experiment with tribulus, you can do so much more cheaply. For instance, BodyBuilding.com sells the Now brand of tribulus for just over $8 for 100 caps. They also sell a pure eurycoma product, "SciFit Eurycoma 1500 EX" for just under $20. This is a much more potent combination of the two ingredients for the same money as Noxycut.

Want to learn more about fat burners? Industry professional Will Brink reviews dozens of top weight loss products in his superb "Fat Loss Revealed" Click here to read my review! Click here to visit the Fat Loss Revealed web site!

.

Have you been the victim of a product that makes exaggerated claims? Launch a complaint!

US visitors should submit a complaint to the US Federal Trade Commission!

Canadians, submit a complaint at the Canadian Competition Bureau!