CardioTrim Effective for Weight, Metabolic Syndrome

FAIRFIELD, Calif. Cissus quadrangularis (Cissus CQR-30), a key ingredient in products from Soy Labs (www.soylabs.com), was shown to manage weight loss, lower blood sugar and reduce bad low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in an eight-week randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study (Lipids Health Dis, 5,1:24, ePub ahead of print 2006). Researchers divided 123 overweight and obese participants, ages 19 to 50, into two groups by body mass index (BMI): obese (BMI >30, n=92) and overweight (BMI 25 to 29, n=31).

Both groups were randomized into three sub groups; a placebo group, one given CQR-300, 300 mg twice/d and kept on a normal diet, and one given CQR-300 300 mg twice/d with calorie-controlled (2,200 calories/d) diet. The 31 overweight participants also formed a fourth (no diet) treatment group. Mean weight loss reported for the CQR-300 group was 10.6 pounds compared with a gain of 2.6 pounds for the control group. The CQR-300 group also experienced a 4.1-percent reduction in BMI, with fasting blood glucose at 14.6-percent, total cholesterol 18.0-percent, LDL cholesterol at 29.0-percent, triglycerides 21.6-percent and plasma malondialdehyde/fat metabolites 45.5-percent. The CQR-300 group also experienced an increase of 21.1 percent in good high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, 53.3 percent in 5-hydroxytryptamine/serotonin (5-HTP) and a 23.5-percent increase in serum creatinine (an indicator of muscle building). The placebo group experienced none of these benefits except a slight decrease in triglycerides of 3.3 percent and a 17.0-percent increase in 5-HTP.