Ads for weight-loss tabs are far and wide, on TV and the radio, in magazines and newspapers, even on the Internet. They tempt you with sincere testimonials, mind-boggling before-and-after photos and the foreseeable money-back guarantees. All you have to do is run out and purchase the up-to-the-minute, hottest, this-one-has-got-to-work weight loss marvel in a bottle!   Not so fast. Get the weight loss facts before you fall for these advertising ploys.

There are many reasons to progress with extreme concern when using weight-loss medication. Though it’s accurate that at times you may in fact drop a little weight with them, the pounds come back once you finish taking the product. Most of these weight loss speedy fixes include a small-print advice that you also take up a reduced-calorie diet and an exercise program which is going to help you drop weight anyway. And weight-loss supplements generally aren’t well regulated, so the definite make up of the active ingredients in weight loss capsules can vary far and wide from supplement to supplement.

Even more bothersome, all weight loss pills have potentially dangerous side effects. Everyone knows that people who take prescription medications need to check with their doctors before using any type of weight loss supplement. But yet well consumers who aren’t taking any additional pills have experienced harmful health side-effects from weight loss pills. The bottom line: Always check with your medical doctor before you take something that promises to “reduce off the weight.”

If you’re still thinking about taking a weight loss product, understand the label for the active ingredients and check out whether there’s any basis to their claims and whether they’re potentially dangerous.

Find out the real deal on metabolism boosters, fat burners, carbohydrate blockers, fat suppressants and more. Metabolism weight loss pills like, Ephedra have been banned.  The FDA restricted ephedra in December 2003 due to dangerous concerns about its safety. But while you won’t find ephedra itself in weightloss-pill ingredient lists any longer, you will find ephedra-like ingredients, including ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, methylephedrine and norpseudoephedrine, present in ma huang and other weight loss aids (often in mixture} with caffeine, which may aggravate side effects). These compounds potentially present the same dangers as ephedra: increased blood pressure, heart palpitations, insomnia, irritability, headaches, seizures, stroke, heart attack and even death. The safest route is to sidestep all products that have any of these substances.

After the FDA banned ephedra, weight-loss-pill companies scrambled to find a possibly safer substitute. Enter synephrine, a substance made from the fruit of the citrus aurantium plant. Bitter orange, sour orange, green orange and zhi shi are other common names for this fruit. Synephrine acts virtually the same way as ephedra does in the body, but with potentially fewer side effects like high blood pressure and increased heart rate. So far, clinical studies illustrate that synephrine may in fact help trim down craving and somewhat intensify metabolic rate, especially when combined with other stimulants such as caffeine or white willow. Clearly, anyone who has high blood pressure or other heart troubles should not utilize any of these compounds without previous consent from her doctor.

Caffeine, which may help some dieters lose weight since it faintly increases metabolism and may cut hunger, hides in many diet-aid compounds: Yerba mate, cocoa extract, white willow bark, gotu kola and guarana are some of the more usual caffeine-containing compounds used in diet capsules. All of them have the possibility to elevate blood pressure levels, cause sleep disturbances and make your heart beat too quickly.

Garcinia, also called hydroxycitric acid, is a natural fruit acid extract from brindall berries. Experts wrangle over its probable value in decreasing appetite and growing the metabolic rate. Since there are few side effects (the main one is nausea), it might be helpful for some people, but there isn’t enough confirmation underneath its efficiency to recommend it across the board.

Hoodia, a newer weight loss pill alternative does seem to have the promise for powerful weight loss potential.  The notable thing about Hoodia is that it lacks the classic side effects of stimulant based weight-loss pills and it has a long history of use as a food and craving suppressant, for generations by the Sans people of South Africa.  The San, a community that lives in the Kalahari, discovered eons ago that if they ate the Hoodia cactus that grows wild in the desert, their hunger pangs would go away. They would feel full and have no urge to over eat, whether or not food is set in front of them.  Actual Hoodia Gordonii is by far the most successful hoodia weight loss answer now available. So how do you choose from all the different brands? You want a hoodia pill that’s certified pure, that’s South African and that is whole hoodia gordonii plant rather than an extract. You want Real Hoodia supported by a USDA protected plant permit and independent lab report as well as a Phytosanitary permit.  Still, Phenternin was the only diet pill we could find with all of these certifications – learn more at