ConsumerLab Tests Popular Weight Loss Products

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—ConsumerLab reviewed the clinical evidence of more than 50 weight loss products and 20 ingredients, finding that no supplement provided a large boon to weight loss, but some ingredients may provide short-term benefits.

Six ingredients were found to help people lose one to three pounds a month; however, more than one-third of the products used for weight loss failed ConsumerLab’s testing, with the most common disqualifier being the product contained less of an ingredient than it claimed.

The six ingredients that may help with weight loss are as follows:

7-Keto DHEA may provide additional weight loss in overweight people on calorie-reduced diets. All the products ConsumerLab tested with this ingredient passed every quality test. 

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) may help consumers slim down by increasing the proportion of lean body mass to fat. Seventy-five percent of the products passed all of the quality tests

Garvinia Cambogia extract may lead to modest weight loss and appears to work better in women than men and when a person is not markedly obese. Forty-six percent of the products with this ingredient passed all the quality tests

Green coffee bean extract may also lead to modest weight loss. Half of the products passed all of the quality tests.

Green tea extract may help with weight loss and protect against weight gain. Seventy-five percent of the products passed all of the quality tests.

Herbal stimulant blends provide caffeine that may help with weight loss; however, none of them passed the quality tests because of the potentially dangerous amount of caffeine in the products.

This report follows a similar one where ConsumerLab tested fatty acids in seed-oil products.