RapidCuts Femme Fat Burner For Women Review:

Dozing on the couch after a particularly satisfying workout, I was jolted from my reverie by an overly enthusiastic RapidCuts Femme commercial. Blinking sleepily, I struggled upright. "RapidCuts Femme", the announcer proclaimed,"features a new modern 3-Stage fat burning technology. This revolutionary approach to female body transformation is the new standard in fat reduction sciences."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever", I mumbled sleepily.

For a while the narrator droned on, extolling the miraculous fat burning benefits of RapidCuts femme. But then, the completely unexpected happened...

"You can expect to lose as much as 9.9 pounds of unwanted body fat and improve body firmness in as little as 12 weeks," announced the narrator breathlessly.

What the... ?

9.9 pounds in 12 weeks? Why that's almost... reasonable. Attainable even. Heck, it's probably even accurate. After all, that's less than a pound a week. What the heck is going on here? Don't tell me supplement retailers are going to start providing their customers with a realistic expectation of their products' performance? What is the world coming to?

Needless to say, in seconds I was on my feet and on my way to my office, where I began researching RapidCuts Femme in earnest (yes, it's becoming increasingly obvious... I don't have a life! :-) )

Let's have a closer look at this product...

As the announcer stated, there are 3 "stages" in the fat burning process -- each of which coincides with it's own blend of ingredients...

1) Target™ (Fat Targeting Enhancer): Designed to "initiate the fat burning process by effectively controlling the body’s chief fat burning hormone – Cortisol." Apparently, this element of the formulation is so potent is can lower cortisol levels by 26%.

Target™ contains three ingredients...

i) Sensoril® Ashwagandha extract: The Sensoril® version of ashwagandha is an especially potent one, manufactured to ensure it contains adequate levels of the most active constituents of the plant -- withanolides, oligosaccharides, and withaferin. "Run of the mill" Ashwagandha products may be produced from old or inferior plants, not yielding nearly enough of these ingredients to provide much benefit.

As far as these benefits go, it is this element of the formula that the "cortisol controlling" claims come from. Ashwagandha is, of course, a plant that has been studied fairly extensively (a search for ashwagandha at PubMed brings up nearly 150 published studies), and does show promising results for a variety of conditions -- including stress relief. One review of available study data (Altern Med Rev. 2000 Aug;5(4):334-46) concluded...

"Preliminary studies have found various constituents of ashwagandha exhibit a variety of therapeutic effects with little or no associated toxicity. These results are very encouraging and indicate this herb should be studied more extensively to confirm these results and reveal other potential therapeutic effects. Clinical trials using ashwagandha for a variety of conditions should also be conducted."

OK, so where does this magical 26% lowering of your cortisol levels come from? As far as I can tell, it's from the Sensoril® patent application -- where the results of a positive "anti-stress" test performed on rats is outlined. Of course, I don't need to tell you that rats are not humans, and that promising animal studies only confirm the need for more studies, and credible human-based data.

And that's the main problem with ashwagandha data -- it's promising alright, but there is very little human-based clinical information available. For instance, another study (see J Pharm Pharmacol. 1998 Sep;50(9):1065-8) showed it increased thyroid activity -- surely a boon for those trying to lose weight! Whoops! Once again, this study was performed on mice, not humans.

Bottom line on this 26% lowering of cortisol levels? Sure it's applicable... if you're an albino lab rat. If you're not, we need more real clinical human data before we can truly evaluate this ingredient's benefits on stress relief and weight loss. Nonetheless, I believe there's enough evidence available to state that Ashwagandha is certainly a beneficial supplement -- it's just hard to accurately quantify those benefits at this time.

ii) Guggul (standardized for 9 mg each of E&Z guggulsterones): A small body of evidence indicates guggulsterones may also have value as a fat burner (see J Postgrad Med. 1995 Jan-Mar;41(1):5-7) specifically by increasing thyroid T3 hormone levels.

However, if you review the study referenced above, you'll see the positive results were attained with 1.5-3 grams if guggul daily. If this is standardized to a mere 6% active guggulsterones, that's between 90 and 180 mg of active ingredients -- 3 to 5 times more than the amount found in RapidCuts Femme. Other studies indicate that guggul has LDL-cholesterol lowering and anti-inflammatory properties. For a complete review of guggul, please read the Guggulbolic Extreme review!

iii) Banaba (standardized for .48 mg of corosolic acid): To date, several credible studies validate Banaba's ability to lower blood glucose levels, therefore providing some benefit to those with non-insulin dependent diabetes, as well as overweight or obese individuals. (Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2006 Aug;73(2):174-7. Epub 2006 Mar 23 , J Ethnopharmacol. 2003 Jul;87(1):115-7 , J Nutr. 2001 Sep;131(9):2242-7).

2) Release™ (Fat Release Enhancer): "A proprietary blend designed to initiate the release of fat from larger areas of stubborn stored fat by enhancing the body’s key fat-release pathway known as Lipolysis."

Includes methylxanthine concentrated green tea, caffeine anhydrous, and Forslean® -- Indian coleus forskohlii -- standardized for 25 mg forskolin.

Translated, this element of the ingredient profile contains green tea standardized for caffeine (and possibly other xanthines like theobromine and theophylline).

There's good reason why caffeine is found in the vast majority of fat burners on the market today -- it has well established thermogenic (fat burning) effects (see Am J Clin Nutr. 1989 Jan;49(1):44-50, Am J Clin Nutr. 1980 May;33(5):989-97). As such, it's a smart addition to this compilation.

It's also smart to combine caffeine with green tea (standardized for EGCG), as the two have synergistic effect -- increasing the fat burning potency of the combination.

Nothing revolutionary or earth shattering here -- just some, age-old, proven ingredients.

The last ingredient in the "Release" element of RapidCuts Femme is Forslean®, a patented version of coleus foskohlii extract.

This study, "Effects of Coleus Forskohlii Supplementation on Body Composition and Hematological Profiles in Mildly Overweight Women (which was funded by the Sabinsa Corporation who holds the patent) did not find any significant changes in lean mass or fat, although the researchers did conclude that ForsLean "...may help mitigate weight gain."

Another study, (Journal of Obesity Research August 2005, "Body Composition and Hormonal Adaptations Associated With Forskolin Consumption In Overweight and Obese Men") found that forskolin was helpful, but did not yield earth-shattering results.

3) Ignite™: Fat Ignition Enhancer: Designed to "ignite and eliminate released fatty acids."

This element of the formula contains...

i) Green tea standardized for polyphenols (including 93 mg of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), as well as an additional 19 mg of caffeine): Green tea is as close as it gets to a "no brainer" ingredient for any weight loss supplement, and there's plenty of good, clinical data validating its effects (see the green tea review for more information). A smart addition to this formula.

ii) White willow bark (standardized for salicin): An anti-inflammatory similar to aspirin, it promotes a very similar response within the body. In the days when ephedra was common to every fat burner, white willow was often used as an alternative to aspirin in the good old ephedra/caffeine/aspirin stack. There's no evidence to suggest it provides any synergistic fat burning effect when added to ephedra-free formulations.

iii) Metabromine® ( Standardized for theobromine): an alkaloid found in the cacao plant, theobromine is also a methylxanthine (like the aforementioned caffeine and theophylline). Normally it has uses as a vasodilator -- lowering the blood pressure while stimulating an elevated heart rate. It also may prove useful for treating asthma, and, believe it or not, may have cancer prevention properties.

Does Theobromine help with weight loss? Well, it seems to inhibit the action of the enzyme that converts active cAMP to inactive cAMP (cAMP is a "cellular regulator." In other words, this compound is required to "spark" many intercellular processes. An increased concentration of cAMP can have such "total-body" effects as raised thyroid hormone levels and increased fat burning). So it may provide some value.

And there you have it... the RapidCuts Femme formula.

So... what's the verdict?

Well, the combination of green tea and caffeine -- although not particularly revolutionary -- is a good one. Those two ingredients on their own are probably enough to ensure this product will provide you with some benefits -- provided you eat smart and adopt some sort of exercise program.

The other ingredients? Well... forskolin, guggul, and banaba are all promising ingredients and do have a small body of clinical data validating their effectiveness. It would be nice however, if RapidCuts Femme contained a more potent dosage of guggul -- at least twice what is present here.

I'd say the fat fighting and cortisol reducing effects of the Sensoril® Ashwagandha extract are far from conclusively proven in humans, and the benefits of Metabromine® -- as far as weight loss goes -- aren't conclusive either. So it's difficult to say if and how much in the way of benefits these two ingredients add to the overall formula.

Still, all in all this is a pretty good formula. And I absolutely love the fact that AllMax (the makers of RapidCuts Femme) aren't over-exaggerating the results of their product (yes, despite the "3-stage fat burning technology" silliness).

Kudos to them for that. It's a nice change. Two thumbs up. With the implementation of a smart diet and exercise program, Rapid Cuts Femme may just give you the edge!

Have you used Rapid Cuts Femme? Share your comments
and read Rapid Cuts Femme user reviews / testimonials, click here!

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!