Achieving an optimal state of health is essential in an increasingly sedentary and affluent society. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity has tripled on the planet since 1975. More than 1.9 billion adults in the world are overweight, of which 625 million suffer from obesity.
Hand in hand with these data, the complications associated with obesity also increase. Heart failure is the leading cause of death in adults in high-income countries, and this clinical condition is caused by overweight and obesity in up to 60% of cases. There is a clear correlation between a high Body Mass Index (BMI) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), accelerated cellular aging, various types of cancer (gastric and colorectal, among others), depression, diabetes and other clinical entities.
The general population is increasingly aware of the dangers of obesity and sustained overweight, so more solutions are currently being sought to tackle this condition. Still, up to 80% of people fail when trying to follow a typical diet. Dietary supplements try to help in the weight loss process, and Reduslim Mercadona is one of the most popular in the parapharmaceutical field. Here we put it to the test.
First of all, it is essential to define what a dietary supplement is in general, beyond the brand of the product and the surface on which it is distributed. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) defines a dietary supplement as a compound whose objective is to supplement (pardon the redundancy) individual nutrition for a specific purpose
Typically, these supplements contain one or more of the following ingredients: vitamins, minerals, typical elements of herbal medicine, amino acids, metabolites or ingredients and extracts resulting from the combination of these elements. Due to their primarily “herbal” nature, it should be noted that these compounds are not considered medicines, but rather are categorized in the category of dietary supplements.
This distinction, although it may not seem like it, is extremely important. Since they are categorized as foods and not as drugs or pharmaceuticals, the definition of their usefulness and effectiveness is limited solely to the seller of the product. In other words, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can remove a harmful supplement from the market, but it does not have to check whether or not it is completely useful for the purpose for which it was designed.
For this reason, A supplement does not have to follow the entire process of analysis and laboratory testing to be put on sale in a parapharmacy or large commercial area In these cases, the only thing left to do is trust (or not) the opinions of nutritionists or the supposed properties that the sellers of the product defend. As you can imagine at this point, it is necessary to always view these supplements from a skeptical point of view, since no one can assure you that their usefulness is real. Be careful and don’t be fooled.
What is Reduslim Mercadona? Works?
On this occasion, we have before us the product Reduslim, which is mainly for sale in the large commercial chain Mercadona. According to the official website of the product, this compound in the form of oral tablets blocks the absorption of fast carbohydrates, gives a feeling of satiety, burns stored fat and improves digestion, by accelerating the metabolism.
They also argue that “scientists have shown that Reduslim is effective in 99% of cases.” We are going to put this statement to the test by dissecting each of the essential compounds contained in the tablets : L-carnitine, glucomannan tuber extract, Garcinia Cambodian fruit extract and wild Gymnema leaf extract. Since we have not found such studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of Reduslim, we have to turn to external scientific sources.
1. L-Carnitine
The clinical study Effects of l-carnitine supplementation on weight loss and body composition, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition in 2020, tries to explore the effects of L-carnitine on weight loss, after analyzing 37 different studies chosen from randomly.
Apparently, L-Carnitine supplements appear to modestly reduce weight loss (1.21 kg) in obese people who are dieting with professional help In any case, an optimal value of 2,000 milligrams of daily intake is established to observe significant effects, a value that cannot be verified if the manufacturer of the tablets does not publish the exact percentages of each compound.
2. Glucomannan Tuber Extract
glucomannan It is a high molecular weight polysaccharide found in the cell walls of some plants, which is why it is considered a type of dietary fiber It is usually used as a food additive for its emulsifying and thickening properties, but in recent years it has also become fashionable as a dietary supplement.
The sources that market it argue that, when mixed with water, this type of fiber could take up space in the stomach, which would help increase satiety in the patient who is trying to reduce their caloric intake. Until now, the scientific community has not been able to confirm such properties, so this ingredient has not been associated with weight loss, at least in the laboratory setting.
3. Cambodian Garcinia Extract
The shrub referred to in the Reduslim table of contents is not actually called that. Actually, we are talking about Garcinia gummi-gutta, a vegetable that grows in southern India and is found within the Clusiaceae family. Since 2012, this garcinia fruit concentrate has suffered a media boom, as it is argued that it has miraculous abilities to reduce patients’ weight.
Nothing is further from reality. Not only have the effects of garcinia on people on a diet not been confirmed, but studies such as “The Use of Garcinia Extract (Hydroxycitric Acid) as a Weight loss Supplement” show that patients who consume this compound are twice as likely to to present gastrointestinal symptoms during the process. Due to these studies (and the compound’s hepatotoxic potential), The withdrawal of this extract from the market has been repeatedly requested
4. Wild Gymnema Leaf Extract
Again, the designation of this compound is not quite right. We assume that on the official Reduslim website it refers to Gymnema sylvestre, a climbing plant native to Asia, China and the Arabian Peninsula.
In this case, the prospect is a little more encouraging. Studies such as “Effects of a natural extract of (-)-hydroxycitric acid (HCA-SX) and a combination of HCA-SX plus niacin-bound chromium and Gymnema sylvestre extract on weight loss” have shown that Some patients with obesity lost up to 6% more weight when consuming supplements from this plant The sample number is very low (60 monitored patients), but the results are not bad.
It seems that the chemical compounds of this plant adhere to the receptors of the intestinal walls, helping to reduce the absorption of simple sugars at the gastrointestinal level. This could encourage the secretion of insulin into the bloodstream and reduce blood sugar levels, although more research is required to confirm these properties.
Summary
If they teach us anything in schools that teach scientific disciplines, it is to distrust words and pay more attention to numbers. Every biologist, nutritionist or healthcare professional should have a skeptical point of view when talking about dietary supplements because, as we have said, their sale is not regulated at the government level, except in exceptional cases where the compound is dangerous.
We cannot assure you that Reduslim Mercadona is a scam, but its effectiveness has certainly not been proven either (or the studies that prove it are not available to the public). It may or may not help reduce body mass, but clearly unbiased studies do not seem to indicate that its effectiveness is miraculous
At this point and after the data presented, the ability to choose only falls on the consumer. If you need more evidence to make a decision, check the bibliography, as we cite the studies consulted and many others.
