Best Weight Loss Pills & Supplements in Kenya Reviewed. A Scientific Evidence Based Review.
There are hundreds of diet pills and supplements out there and the most dangerous seem to be flooding the African market, especially in Kenya.
Yes, most of weight loss pills and supplements sold in Kenya causes more harm than good.
Having said that, with the right information, you can get the best effective weight loss pills and supplements vetted by US food and drugs administration (FDA).
Severe Warning: Never take Phentermine for weight loss
To start with, you should NEVER TAKE PHEHPHENDRINE or any weight loss pill that sounds close to that.
The active ingredient for phenphedrine is called Phentermine, a chemical substance that was found to cause severe heart diseases, pulmonary hypertension and ruptured heart valves.
In this scientific and evidence-based review, I am going to let you know as the consumer the truth about the best weight loss pills, supplements and natural herbal weight loss remedies available in Kenya.
How does Weight loss pills & Supplements work?
- Reduce appetite: They make you feel full, thus eating fewer calories
- Reduce absorption: Some weight loss supplements block absorption of fats, thus fewer calories entering into your system
- Burn more fat: Some weight loss and fat loss supplements make you burn more calories by either increasing cellular metabolism or by increasing heart rate and thermogenesis (heat production).
- Hormonal Balance: Some weight loss pills may also correct hormonal imbalance leading to weight loss, stabilized blood sugar levels, more muscle growth and even improve premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea in women. All women have some level of hormonal imbalance Get DIM to balance it
Here are 12 most popular weight loss pills and supplements review
1: Garcinia Cambogia Extract
Garcinia Cambogia became popular in 2012 after being featured on Dr. Oz show.
Garcinia is a small green fruit of the pumpkin family native in Indonesia and India.
The outer skin of Garcinia fruit contains natural hydroxycitric acid (HCA), the active ingredient in Garcinia cambogia extract diet pills.
How it works: Animal Studies shows that Garcinia Cambogia extracts Hydroxycitric Acid can inhibit production of fat producing the enzyme in the body (1) and increase the production of serotonin hormone (2), helping to reduce appetite and cravings.
Effectiveness of Garcinia Cambogia: There are several scientific and evidence based research projects done on the effectiveness of Garcinia Cambogia.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) studied a random group of 135 obese individuals taking Garcinia and another group taking dummy pill (Placebo) (3).
The research failed to notice any significant weight loss advantages in those taking hydroxycitric acid and those taking a dummy pill.
Another research study in 2011 by journal or obesity, analyzed 12 different research found that on average, people taking Garcinia cambogia lost an average of 0.88KG over 4 weeks or 1 month (4).
Side Effects of Garcinia Cambogia: Garcinia cambogia is very well tolerated and no major reports of side effects, adverse effects or drug interaction.
Conclusion: even though Garcinia cambogia can cause weight loss, it is such a small amount of weight that most people will not notice the difference.
Garcinia Cambogia is loaded with other important phytochemicals helpful in the body but for weight loss purposes, there are better choices.
2: Hydroxycut
Hydroxycut has been around for over a decade and probably one of the most widely used and reviewed weight log pill in the world.
While there are different types of Hydroxycut blends, the original Hydroxycut (see picture and link) remains the most effective weight loss pill in Hydroxycut family of products.
How does Hydroxycut work? Hydroxycut is a blend of several powerful weight loss extracts claimed to aid in weight loss including caffeine.
Hydroxycut Effectiveness: There are limited studies on Hydroxycut. One study showed that people taking Hydroxycut lost and an average of 21 pounds (9.5kg) over 3 months. Some lost up to 30 pounds (13.6kg).
Side Effects: Hydroxycut has high doses of caffeine. If you cannot tolerate caffeine, Hydroxycut might not be your best choice for weight loss.
Side effects, therefore, are similar to those caused by high caffeine intakes like anxiety, jitteriness, tremors, nausea, diarrhea, and irritability.
Warning: Be very careful about buying Hydroxycut in Kenya. Because of its success, there are a lot of fakes from China.
Conclusion: Studies about Hydroxycut are limited but it is America’s number one weight-loss product.
Some people may find Hydroxycut harsh at the beginning of a weight loss regimen.
You should not take anything that has caffeine while on Hydroxycut. It is recommended to be taken twice a day, the first dose very early in the morning and the second dose around noon.
This to prevent lack of sleep at night due to caffeine.
3: Orlistat (Alli)
Orlistat or Alli is FDA approved weight loss supplement that is very effective in weight loss with little or no side effects.
A stronger pharmaceutical grade of Alli is sold in the USA under a brand name of Xenical prescribed for a morbidly obese patient with elevated triglycerides.
How does Orlistat work? Orlistat works by blocking fat absorption in the digestive system, thus lower calories absorbed. (5).
Effectiveness: People taking orlistat lost an average of 2.7Kg in one month compared to those who took a placebo.
When taken together with CoQ10, it was found to greatly reduce serum lipids, triglycerides, and cholesterol (6).
It also reduces plaque formation that causes heart attack and stroke.
Orlistat Side Effects: Orlistat blocks fat absorption and so it is expected to cause diarrhea, fatty stools, an urgency to have a bowel movement and poor bowel control (7).
It is recommended to avoid eating fatty foods while on orlistat to minimize side effects.
Low carbohydrate diet has been found to be more effective in weight loss than Orlistat + low-fat diet combined (8).
However, serum lipids reduction and an increase of lipase enzyme ( the enzyme that breaks down fat in the body) are stronger benefits in the prevention of heart diseases, stroke and diabetes (9).
Conclusion: Orlistat reduction of serum lipids, lipid panel improvement, and prevention of diabetes outweighs the weight loss benefits.
Fat blocking causing loose frequent bowel movement might be an unpleasant side effect that might cause poor regimen compliance.
Alli is Expensive but it works! Available as Pre-Order Only
4: Slimfy 3 step weight loss regimen:
Slimfy is a regimen consisting of multiple well-known and studied blends believed to cause weight loss.
Understanding how each and every ingredient work is important to understand how slimfy weight loss regimen works.
How it works: Slimfy regimen comes in 3 stages with each stage lasting 30 days.
The third stage can be continued longer to keep off the weight and maintain benefits gained in stage 1 and stage 2.
Slimfy Ingredients in each stage:
| Slimfy Stage 1 | Slimfy Stage 2 | Slimfy Stage 3 | |
| Serving Size | 1 Tablet – 965 mg | 1 Tablet – 815 mg | 1 Tablet – 1115 mg |
| Servings Per Container | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Ingredients | Green Coffee Bean Extract, Hydrangea (root), Milk Thistle (seed), Organic Ginger (root), Saffron Extract | Green Coffee Bean Extract, Raspberry Ketone Extract, Pure Trans – Resveratrol, Organic Maqui Berry, CoQ10, Saffron Extract | African Mango, Organic Green Tea Extract, Caralluma Fimbriata, CoQ10, Lychee Extract |
How does it work? Since slimfy has combined several well-known extracts into a proprietary blend, understanding how each one of them works is the key.
Green Coffee Bean Extract: Simply means coffee that has not been roasted. It contains two potent weight loss prove ingredients namely Caffeine and Chlorogenic Acid.
Caffeine can increase metabolism by as much as 11%. Caffeine also can increase physical/athlete performance by 38%.
This is achieved by several pathways that caffeine effects including an increase of calcium release in sarcoplasmic reticulum in the skeletal muscles contractile process, thus increasing the force of contraction (10).
Milk Thistle: Slimfy seems to recognize that a good weight loss regimen should also include boosting of intracellular metabolism and cell detoxification.
Milk thistle (11) commonly used with NAC increases the synthesis and availability of Glutathione, a potent antioxidant, anti-aging, and energy booster (12, 13, and 14).
Milk thistle also helps in the prevention of abnormal fat deposit in the liver (fatty liver), also called steatosis (15), something that can cause or speed up the onset of diabetes.
This is why milk thistle is good for liver detox.
Saffron Root: Saffron root is a potent herb with detox and healing properties especially, depression, Alzheimer’s dementia and women with pre-menstrual syndrome (16).
Raspberry Extract: Raspberry extract comes from raspberry and is believed to inhibit the multiplication of fat cells and increase fat cells breakdown (17).
Trans-resveratrol: trans-resveratrol is a plant hormone produced in response to an injury.
This important phytochemical is also found in red wine. Scientific research has shown that Trans-resveratrol helps n cellular repair, oxidative reduction of free radicals.
CoQ10: This is probably one of the most important and potent supplement every human being should be taking.
It boosts cellular energy production inside the mitochondria (18).
CoQ10 also blocks and reverses significant neural damage (19) and improves heart ventricular contraction especially to patients with heart failure (20).
Caralluma Fimbriata: There has been a lot of research on Caralluma Fimbriata role in weight loss.
One research found out that it helped decrease the waist size and belly fat but not necessarily overall body weight (21).
Slimfy Effectiveness: Slimfy is relatively new and there are no scientific researches done specifically on slimfy.
Self-reporting users of slimfy have reported losing as much as 4lb (1.8kg) combined with diet and exercise.
Conclusion: Slimfy is an expensive blend and for weight loss results, it is a mediocre weight loss regimen.
There are better weight loss supplements out there that cost half the cost of slimfy.
5: Forskolin
Forskolin is extracted from a plant in the mint family claimed to be an effective weight loss supplement.
How does it work: Forskolin is believed to increase levels of a cellular compound called cAMP which stimulates fat burning (22).
Effectiveness: Forskolin seems to have little to no effect on women but men taking forskolin significantly decreased fat percentage and increased muscle mass (23).
Side Effects: No side effects have been reported from users of Forskolin.
Conclusion: There is very little and limited scientific research to substantiate the use of forskolin in weight loss.
6: Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is probably the most popular fat loss supplement in the western world due to its effectiveness and health benefits.
It is derived from animal products like cheese.
Grazed animals that feed on naturally occurring vegetation has the highest amount of CLA compared to zero grazing animals.
How it works: Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) reduces appetite, boosts metabolism and stimulate the rapid breakdown of fat (24, 25).
Effectiveness: One study showed that women taking 800mg of CLA lost as much as 9% total weight (26) and as much as 10kg in only 8 weeks (27).
Side effect: CLA long-term use may cause fatty liver and insulin resistance. Milk thistle discussed above is a strong and scientifically proven to prevent and even reverse fatty liver.
Like any fats, CLA can cause indigestion and /or diarrhea.
Conclusion: CLA is one of the BEST weight loss supplements but weight loss is gradual
7: Green Coffee Bean Extract:
Loaded with caffeine and chlorogenic acid, green coffee bean extract simply means coffee beans that have not been roasted.
How it works: Green coffee extract is a potent thermogenic (substances that produce heat), increases metabolism by as much as 11%.
Effectiveness: subjects taking green bean extract over a period of 3 months lost an average of 13kg and their blood pressure levels decreased by an average of 14%.
Other benefits: Coffee bean extract has been shown to lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar and prevent insulin resistance (28, 29).
Side effects: Side effects of the green coffee extract are similar to those of caffeine, Chlorogenic acid may cause diarrhea but rare.
Conclusion: Green coffee extract does cause modest weight loss. The fact that it contains caffeine increases skeletal muscles function and skeletal performance.
This, in turn, increases workout length and intensity leading to more weight loss.
This is one of the reasons why green coffee bean extract is widely used by athletes and bodybuilders to increase performance and burn fat.
8: Glucomannan
Glucomannan is a type of fiber found in on the roots of elephant yam, also called Konjac native in tropical East Asian countries like China, Japan, and Indonesia.
How it works: Like any dietary fiber, Glucomannan absorbs water and expands. This causes a feeling of fullness thus eating fewer calories.
Effectiveness: Glucomannan is very effective in weight loss, fat loss, cholesterol reduction and appetite control (30).
Studies have shown that people taking glucomannan together with healthy diet lost an average of 10 pounds (4.5kg) in only 5 weeks (31).
Side Effects: Like any dietary fiber, glucomannan is expected to cause bloating, flatulence and loose stools.
Glucomannan should be taken about 30 minutes before meals with 2 full glasses of water to have optimum effects.
Conclusion: Glucomannan works well and has very important serum lipids reduction properties.
It has been shown to reduce cholesterol, blood sugar levels, triglycerides, and LDL.
9: Meratrim
Meratrim is relatively a newcomer in the weight loss supplements industry. Meratrim is made of It is an innovative combination of two plant extracts, Sphaeranthus indicus, a flower, and Garcinia mangostana, a fruit rind.
How it works: Meratrim is claimed to make it harder for fat cells to multiply, decrease the amount of fat that they pick up from the bloodstream, and also help them burn stored fat.
Effectiveness: One research showed effective fat percentage reduction in subjects taking meratrim over 6 weeks compared to a dummy pill (placebo).
Another study involving 100 obese subjects showed that meratrim was responsible for an average of 11 pounds and up to 12 cm off their waistlines in 4 weeks.
Dr. Oz live on his show had a group of women take Meratrim while on 2,000 calories diet (considered as gold standard calories an adult should take).
In only two weeks, they had lost at least 3 pounds and had significant wait line reduction
You can watch this Dr. Oz episode.
Reduction in waistline obesity improved the quality of life, less back pain lower cholesterol and better serum lipids.
Side Effects: No side effects have been reported with Meratrim.
Conclusion: Meratrim is effective in weight loss, belly fat reduction, and waistline reduction. Together with a healthy diet, exercise and other supplements reviewed here, significant weight loss is achievable.
NOTE: There is a SCAM circulating on the internet and facebook about purple mangosteen as a miracle weight loss supplement. Purple mangosteen alone may cause some weight loss but NOT SIGNIFICANT.
10: Green Tea Extract:
Green tea extract is a common ingredient in many weight loss products and there are numerous scientific research studies on green tea extract and weight loss.
It contains a plant anti-oxidant substance called EGCG believed to aid in fat burning.
How it works: EGCG increases the activity of norepinephrine, a hormone responsible for breaking down of fat into sugars in the sympathetic nervous system.
Effectiveness: There are many studies out there that have demonstrated the effectiveness of green tea extract especially in waistline reduction (32, 33 & 34).
Side Effects: Green tea extract is very well tolerated although is does contain caffeine. Side effects related to caffeine are expected.
Conclusion: Together with a healthy diet and exercise, green tea extract can lead to considerable weight loss.
Which Weight Loss Pills are Winners?
With Hydroxycut aside due to low compliance, here are my winners. Note that if you can tolerate hydroxycut, it should be on top of your list.
Weight Loss: Glucomannan & CLA (+ Hydroxicut if you can tolerate)
Fat Loss: Alli, CLA, Caffeine and green tea extract.
Fat Burning/Exercise intensity boosters: Caffeine & Green Tea Extract
My picks? Glucomannan, CLA 1300MG & green tea OR coffee bean extract.
Bottom line: Cutting carbohydrates, eating more protein and exercise are still the best methods of weight loss. They work better than all the diet pills combined.
All supplements on this article, together with diet & exercise will cause significant weight loss. The question is, are you willing to be compliant?
Promising New Comers (Carbohydrate blockers)
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Phase2 or Kidney beans extract: This is very effective in blocking carbohydrates from being absorbed into the body.
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Chitosan: This causes very rapid weight loss by blocking carbohydrate absorption. Taken with Glucomannan 30 minutes before meals, some people have reported losing up to 50 pounds (22.5kg) in 3-4 months. That is a lot of weight.
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Turmeric Forskolin Advanced Weight Loss: This is one of the latest newcomers and everyone is raving about how rapidly they lost weight.
It is worth noting that those who lost up to 15 kg in only 2 months were also exercising and eating a low carb diet.
Though quite expensive, this