Recently a couple of visitors have asked me what I thought of the SlimShot® Effervescent Slimming Drink (not to be confused with SlimShots™, the palm and oat oil blend that is claimed to increase satiety and suppress appetite). Apparently, several well-known “review” sites are touting its amazing “3 step system” and recommending the product.
That’s enough to make me suspicious, especially when the retailers are not revealing how much of the various ingredients are included in any of the 3 formulas. For example, the “morning” formula contains green tea. Green tea has shown numerous, demonstrated benefits for weight loss—when it’s present in the correct dose, and when it’s standardized for the appropriate amount of essential catechins and polyphenols. How much green tea and its critical constituents is present in the SlimShot® Effervescent Slimming Drink?
Your guess is as good as mine. ‘Cause it sure as heck is not revealed on the web site. When the same issue pertains to every ingredient in the various formulas, it’s a bit baffling to me how anyone could make a rousing recommendation for this product.
That said, let’s look closely at the various formulas…
1. The Morning Formula: According to the product web site, it contains a….
“…proprietary combination of Green Coffee, Olive Wood, Ash Wood Cola, Mate, Cynorhodon, Wild Pansy, Cherry Stalk, Meadow-Sweet and Green Tea…all designed to jump start your metabolism, provide a clean energy and boost the immune system.”
The morning formula also contains a series of B-vitamins to “boost the immune system.”
Of course, the main problem here is the one I already outlined: we don’t know whether the beneficial ingredients—like green tea—are present in potent enough doses to elicit a positive effect. Given that this is a dissolvable tablet, and that you need a fair amount of this ingredient present to demonstrate a positive effect, I highly doubt it.
The other issue is that very few of the other ingredients in this formula have any proven benefit for weight loss or “jump starting the metabolism”. Green tea can, of course, if it’s present in the appropriate dosage. But even it has only been shown to boost the metabolism by about 4%— the equivalent to 100 calories in most people. That’s hardly going to make much of a difference.
Mate, for instance, is a source of caffeine, which is a proven thermogenic on its own (see Am J Clin Nutr. 1989 Jan;49(1):44-50, Am J Clin Nutr. 1980 May;33(5):989-97), although some data indicates it offers greater benefits to lean individuals that those who are overweight (see Am J Physiol. 1995 Oct;269(4 Pt 1):E671-8).
Green coffee is a rich source of chlorogenic acid, and small, preliminary animal studies demonstrate some effect on weight loss (BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2006, 6:9). Of course, you’re not a lab rat, so at this point, this doesn’t mean very much.
And the other ingredients? Although I would be surprised if they were present in doses large enough to have any effect, cherry stalk is a diuretic, meadow sweet is a source of salicylic acid, wild pansy is a diuretic, and the other ingredients offer some vitamin C and a few other compounds. There’s no “fat burning” and immune system boosting miracle at work here, just an indeterminate-sized dose of caffeine and green tea.
2. The Afternoon formula: The product web site claims…
“…The Noon formula restricts fat absorption through a combination of Apple and Citrus Pectins, Guar Gum and Cider Vinegar.”
Guar gum is a source of fiber. Fiber fills you up without adding calories, and is a good thing to add into your diet. But fiber is cheap and you can increase your intake without spending a bundle. Apple cider vinegar is an old scam; completely useless for weight loss, although evidence indicates it may delay gastric emptying and improve insulin sensitivity.
Apple and citrus pectins are good sources of fiber as well, although neither “restrict fat absorption” as indicated in the product’s advertising material.
Hardly inspiring stuff.
3. The Evening formula: The advertising team sounds a bit like they are grasping at straws here…
“Finally, the Night formula was designed to keep the weight loss process ticking without any stimulants so you can sleep soundly.”
Uh-huh.
This part of the formula contains pineapple, cacao, orange skin, papaya, grape marc extract (grape seed and skins), and chromium.
Here’s where another of the big problems with this product really shows up; we aren’t told what any of the ingredients are standardized for.
Orange skin… is this standardized for synephrine, a well-known fat burner that has been shown to have little effect on weight loss?
If that’s the case, there are studies that show synephrine-containing products do elevate blood pressure and heart rate, despite claims that it is not a stimulant (see Ann Pharmacother. 2006 Jan;40(1):53-7. Epub 2005 Nov 29).
Grape seed extract is an excellent antioxidant (which won’t help you lose weight), but what percentage of polyphenols and proanthocyanidins is this product standardized for? Does the SlimShot® Effervescent Slimming Drink contain a decent amount, or does grape seed extract serve simply as “label dressing”?
Is the pineapple used as a source of bromelain, a common digestive enzyme that exhibits an anti inflammatory effect? If so, how much does this formula contain?
Same goes for the papaya—if it’s used as a source of the digestive enzyme papain, how much does this formula contain?
And, if these ingredients are included for digestive enzymes, where’s the evidence that supplementation with them supports healthy weight loss?
What form of chromium is included, and how much?
And the cacao (normally referred to as “cocoa”)… what’s it standardized for?
As you’re beginning to see, there are MAJOR problems with this product. Let me summarize them now…
The SlimShot® Effervescent Slimming Drink contains very few ingredients for which there exists any decent published data showing a metabolism-boosting effect.
It’s also impossible to determine if these relatively few ingredients are present in potent dosages, and given the fact that this is an effervescent tablet, I highly doubt it. And, as I just indicated, it isn’t revealed what the various ingredients are actually standardized for.
In other words, there is very little of value here to justify purchasing this product—or using the word “slimming” in the product name, for that matter. And there’s certainly nothing that indicates it’s even remotely worth the asking price of $80 per month.
For about $10, you could buy a month’s worth of a soluble fiber supplement like glucomannan. Another $11 would get you a potent green tea product like PrimaForce’s Lean Green. That would give you a much more potent combination for a quarter of the price.
What about the “review” sites recommending this product?
Anytime you see someone glossing over a product’s inadequacies and recommending a product that does not serve the best interests of their visitors, you can be darn sure there’s a huge commission being paid on referred sales. And with the SlimShot® Effervescent Slimming Drink costing an outrageous $80/month, you can bet affiliates are earning somewhere between 25-50% of that in commissions.
Not everyone is looking after your best interests, you know. This simply serves to illustrate the importance of being extremely selective on where you take your recommendations, and where you find your information. With the majority of the weight loss supplements on the market making claims that have absolutely no basis in reality, any reviewer who waxes lyrical about the majority of products s/he investigates—or who makes overly enthusiastic recommendations of any sort— must be viewed with a high degree of skepticism.
November 12, 2012
One other point, Paul… it’s pretty easy for me to assume that most of the herbal ingredients aren’t a) standardized; or b) included at useful doses, because if they were, the resulting drink(s) would taste like hell. Plant polyphenols and alkaloids tend to be quite bitter, lol.