Fat Burner Diet Pills

Whether the use of fat burning diet pills is actually cheating or not, few people care as long as they see the results they want. When individuals discuss weight loss aids, attention tends to focus entirely upon how effective they are. Through increasing thermogenesis and reducing appetite, a number of diet pills stand out as having a use in weight loss protocols.

Thermogenics

Thermogenesis stands out as one of the most important factors in increasing the metabolic rate. Thermogenesis, which derives its name from the Latin terms for "heat making," describes the process through which the body burns fat to increase the body's temperature. Dr. David Bender, a biochemist from the University College London and the author of "Introduction to Nutrition and Metabolism," explains that around 10 percent of your total energy expenditure comes from thermogenesis.

Appetite Suppression

Some supplements aim to take an indirect route around the issue by suppressing the appetite. The idea here revolves around a reduced availability of energy from dietary sources, which can encourage the body to use up its own stores of energy; namely, the unsightly bulges stored as subcutaneous fat.

Sida Cordifolia

An herb that works by stimulating beta-cells in the central nervous system, sida cordifolia serves the dual purpose of triggering thermogenesis and also reducing the appetite. The Nutritional Reviews website notes that the herb, native to Brazil, contains around 2 percent ephedrine, a plant compound known for a potent fat-burning effect but often shunned due to the harsh side effects such as insomnia, anxiety and tremors. However, they note that sida cordifolia does not cause such problems, although they also point out that little evidence currently exists to support the use of the herb as a weight loss aid.

Green Tea

Green tea also works on the basis of thermogenesis. The partially fermented leaves of the camelia sinensis plant contain a wealth of nutritional compounds, although the focus falls on the catechin content in regards to fat burning. Manufacturers tend to standardize their supplements for EGCG, or epigallocatechin-gallate, a particularly potent catechin strain. David Tolson, a nutritional researcher and a contributor to Iron Magazine, explains that EGCG slows down the breakdown of noradrenaline in the central nervous system; this action increases the expression of the hormone and results in increased thermogenesis and fat burning.

Expert Insight

Research conducted by scientists at the Queen Mary University in Scotland provided an insight into dosage required for green tea to exert positive effects on fat burning. Dr. Emad Al-Dujaili led the team, who concluded that that around 240 milligrams of catechins per day, the amount found in four cups worth, represented a suitable dosage to achieve improvements in fat burning and body composition. "Endocrine Abstracts" published the results of the study in 2009.