How Much Weight Can You Lose On Quick Trim?

Reality television star Kim Kardashian is the face behind the QuickTrim Diet System, a collection of oral dietary supplements. Kardashian blogs glowingly about how QuickTrim helped her lose the last stubborn five pounds that wouldn't come off with diet and exercise. However, QuickTrim is a dietary supplement, not a weight loss drug -- and because it's classified as such by the United States Food and Drug Administration, you have no guarantee that it will live up to its claims.

Celebrity Backing

Kim Kardashian, best known for her reality television show, "Keeping Up With the Kardahsians", also lends her name and likeness to workout DVDs, perfume, jewelry and fashion lines. Kardashian isn't the first famous persona to promote a weight loss supplement; deceased celebrity Anna Nicole Smith endorsed a similar product, TrimSpa. In 2007, the Federal Trade Commission negotiated part of a $25 million settlement with the manufacturers of TrimSpa for making marketing claims "not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence."

Product Claims

QuickTrim advertisements feature a smiling Kardashian wearing tightly-fitting swimwear and clothing. "The bikini body you always wanted can be yours!" touts the official QuickTrim website, which quotes Kardashian as having lost 25 lbs using the system. In her blog, Kardashian asserts that the QuickTrim Diet System "detoxed" her body of toxins and increased her metabolism, making her exercise program more effective. The manufacturers claim that QuickTrim burns calories, increases your energy and "supercharges your workouts." QuickTrim sells three products: Burn and Cleanse, which is comprised of two dietary supplements; Extreme Burn, which purportedly burns calories 300 percent faster; and Fast Cleanse, a lemonade-flavored "detoxifying" drink.

Ingredients

The amount of weight you'll lose using QuickTrim is questionable simply because dietary supplements by their very nature have not been provide effective -- or even safe. Some of the ingredients used in QuickTrim products include chromium, caffeine and green tea extract -- ingredients commonly found in over-the-counter weight loss supplements, none of which have been proven to be effective as a weight loss aid in well-designed clinical trials.

Warnings

QuickTrim dietary supplements cannot, by law, claim to prevent, cure or treat any medical condition, including obesity. According to a January 2008 article in "Time," 19 percent of Americans take dietary supplements; more than half the time, they use them to address a specific health concern. Problematic is that in two-thirds of the cases, dietary supplements have no substantive scientific backing, the article goes on to say. If you have health problems or take other medications, dietary supplements, even those that contain natural ingredients, aren't necessarily harmless. Weight loss supplements -- and other dietary supplements -- can have detrimental side effects and should not be used before you talk with your treating physician.

Weight Loss Guaranteed

The proven way to lose weight is to cut calories and exercise. If you shave 500 calories from your diet each day, you'll lose a pound of weight each week. Getting regular physical activities enhances your results. The FTC describes assertions made by weight loss and diet ads as "almost always false". Before you take QuickTrim or a similar weight loss supplement, read the label and research the ingredients. Talk to your doctor or a pharmacist, if you have questions -- and be sure to consult the FDA or FTC consumer websites to see which dietary supplements have been recalled or which supplement makers have made false claims about a weight loss product.