Finding top weight loss supplements is a challenge because of all the marketing hype that you have to wade through. All you really need to know for making an informed decision are the results of scientific weight loss research. Here is how to find them..
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Weight Loss Supplements Research – Wikipedia

The key for finding research results, of course, is finding what you are looking for in the published medical literature — i.e., journal articles of original research. Sometimes this research appears in summary form on Wikipedia. However, Wikipedia entries can be biased, depending on who wrote it. Just be sure that any item you find there is based on actual research.

For example, you can find an objective entry for weight loss supplements on Wikipedia by searching “acai” and noting the following comment (quoted from Acai Palm on Wikipedia):

Dietary supplement

In 2004, it became popular to consume açaí as a supplement due in part to the rapid success of multi-level marketing company MonaVie that sells an açaí blend tonic for $40 a bottle and the proliferation of various açaí supplement companies that misused celebrity names like Oprah Winfrey and Rachael Ray to promote açaí weight loss pills online.

Marketers of these products make unfounded claims that açaí and its antioxidant qualities provide a variety of health benefits, none of which has scientific confirmation to date. False claims include reversal of diabetes and other chronic illnesses, as well as expanding size of the penis and increasing men’s sexual virility and sexual attractiveness to women. As of August 2011, there are no scientifically controlled studies supporting any health benefits from consuming açaí. No açaí products have been evaluated (in the United States) by the FDA, and their efficacy is doubtful. Specifically, there is no scientific evidence that açaí consumption affects body weight, promotes weight loss or has any positive health effect.

As you can see below, this commentary compares well with published scientific research, or in this case the lack of it.

Weight Loss Supplements Research – PubMed

The U.S. National Institutes of Health maintains a medical research database online that is free to the public, at PubMed. It is an extensive catalog research articles, most with abstracts at no charge, in more than 10,000 research journals worldwide. It may take a little while to get the hang of how to find something on PubMed, although it is worth the effort.

PubMed is where I go to look for published research before I look anywhere else.

This is the best resource for exposing the nonsense about acai berry vs. weight loss, which I have posted about before: Acai Berry Scams Update – Weight Loss Myth. Results from searching on PubMed confirm the commentary about acai and weight loss that I found on Wikipedia.

Caution About Information on Green Tea

Searching PubMed for green tea and weight loss gives better results than the commentary on Wikipedia suggests. Compare, for example, this quote from green tea on Wikipedia:

Unproven claims

The weight loss effect of green tea has not been proven completely, though there are some studies that have come back with some promising results. People who are trying to refrain from caffeine intake should remember that green tea also contains caffeine. There are green tea versions available that are without caffeine, so a consumer might want to check for this on the green tea packaging before assuming that the green tea that they are purchasing has no caffeine.

Ignore for the moment that “proving” cause and effect in science is flawed logically. The actual research on green tea and weight loss in a PubMed search yielded excellent evidence. This shows that simplistic views of green tea and weight loss, as summarized on Wikipedia, give ambiguous or misleading results. However, when looking at the actual research, this herb seems to be one of the best possible weight loss supplements anywhere. It is important to understand the details of this research, as I posted about in this earlier article: Green Tea Weight Loss Research.

Unreliable Research Resources

Whenever I look for information about weight loss supplements or diet pills of any kind, Google search results are invariably dominated by websites that sell them. Reviews, commentaries, testimonials, and ‘research’ on such sites is there to promote the products they have for sale. These are the least reliable sources for good information. No big surprise there.

What You Can Expect

Searching through a combination of Wikipedia entries and PubMed research, you will discover that the vast majority of weight loss supplements have little or no scientific evidence to support them. This is especially true of herbal formulas — i.e., mixtures of multiple herbs or other ingredients. Scientists almost never study mixtures.

Nevertheless, good research is available on which supplements lead to weight loss. These are the ones to look for as I review them in upcoming articles on this blog.

Before you ever even think about buying any kind of weight loss supplements, or diet pills for that matter, you must READ THIS NOW.

All the best for weight loss supplements,

Dr. D