SLIMShots Review. Will It Help Weight Loss?

Can SLIMShots help you lose weight? The SLIMShots website says you will eat up to 30% less all day without feeling hungry. Even more impressive is that they claim that SLIM Shots will work after the first day and that there are 6 clinical studies to prove it.  Here’s how it’s supposed to work: You take a small shot glass size portion of SLIMShots (they call it a “pod”) which they say “triggers your body’s appetite control mechanism so you feel full”. It’s because of the simplicity of Slim Shots and the research that I wanted to do this Slimshots review. So, let’s take a look at SLIMShots weight loss supplement and see if we can figure out if it’s right for you.

SLIMShots Ingredients

If you watch the SLIMShots commercials –which you can view on the SLIMShots.com website –  they say it’s made of “an all natural blend of palm and oat extracts”. According to the SLIMShots label this is what’s in it:

• Palm Oil
• Oat Oil

SLIMShots also has some artificial flavors and acesulfame potassium which is an artificial sweetener.

Since oils are basically fats, the “extracts” they are talking about are fat.

From a marketing standpoint this is smart because if you were trying to lose weight and knew a weight loss supplement had fat, you probably wouldn’t take it.

The active ingredient in SLIMShots is said to be a compound called “Fabuless” which, according to some researchers is 42% fat. Slim Shots has no fiber and no stimulants – just basically fat.

Calling the active ingredient “Fabuless” is a cute. I guess they call it this because you will look “fabulous” and weigh “less”. Again, smart marketing!

How many calories are in SlimShots?

The calories in SLIMShots has me scratching my head. They say each serving (pod) has 20 calories. A “pod” is about the size of a coffee creamer. But the SLIMShots label also says each pod has 9.3 grams of palm and oat oil (fats). Since each gram of fat has about 9 calories, if you do the math, 9 X 9 = 81 calories. I not sure how they are getting 20 calories per serving.

 

SlimShots vs. SlimQuick

In case anyone is wondering SlimShots is not the same as the weight loss supplement SlimQuick. For more on SlimQuick, read my SlimQuick review

 

SLIMShots research

On the SLIMShots website they list several clinical studies. All of studies are published in medical journals and are peer reviewed. This is good. The research is already summarized on the SLIMShots website so I won’t repeat it here.

The website also lists a “Harvard Medical School Weight Loss Study”. But it’s just a study of weight loss diets. It has nothing to do with SlimShots.

The SlimShots box says there are 6 studies but the SlimShots website only had 4 studies listed when I wrote this review.

I did notice that none of the studies are on SLIMShots itself. Rather the research is conducted on a Yogurt that contained a vegetable-based fatty ingredient called Olibra.

SLIMShots calls its active ingredient “Fabuless” –which is their name for the Olibra ingredient. So, SLIMShots contains Olibra. That’s good because that’s what the research is on.

On the flip side, other research finds that Olibra (Fabuless) in SLIMShots does not work

 

In other study –not mentioned by SlimShots – Smith and associates conducted a placebo controlled randomized trial of the Olibra (Fabuless) ingredient in 2011. Their study was published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Like the trials mentioned on the SLIMShots website, this study also used yogurt that contained Olibra (Fabuless).

These researchers noted that it was it was only the unprocessed Fabuless that seemed to reduce food intake. If this is upheld by other studies, it means that food processing (heating etc.) might damage the Fabuless ingredient and make it less likely to work.

 

Interestingly, the study by Smith and colleagues also noted that Fabuless seemed to only work at dinner and not at other meals. Again, this is just one study. It will be interesting to see what future researchers find.

 

The study by Smith also brings up some interesting issues about the research used to support that SLIMShots work such as:

 

• In the studies that show Fabuless helps weight loss, it is “not clear exactly how the active ingredient was added to the test yoghurts and the amount of processing (that is, significant mixing or heating) involved”

 

• The initial research showing that Fabuless (Olibra) works was all done in the same lab by the same team of researchers.

These points aren’t super damaging but it makes me want to see others test whether SLIMShots works using the same conditions as the original research.

 

SLIMShots side effects

Since SLIMShots is basically fat, it’s probably not going to hurt anyone who is healthy. SLIM Shots has no stimulates like caffeine and no fiber. It’s just fat for the most part.

 

Some research does show that fat causes the vasoconstriction (closing up) of blood vessels. If this is true, would the same thing happen if someone took SLIMShots? And if the answer is yes, would this be dangerous if someone had significant heart disease?

 

I don’t know because as far as I can tell nobody appears to have looked at whether the Fabululess (Olibra) causes vasoconstriction of blood vessels. I am admittedly shooting from the hip by mentioning this and I could be completely wrong. This is just something that occurred to me.

Does SLIMShots work?

While I have some questions about the research, it’s possible that SLIMShots may help some people eat less food and lose some weight. I say this because if you disregard all the fancy talk about satiety hormones, Fabuless (Olibra) and all that other stuff, the fact remains that fat slows down digestion.

In other words, eating fat makes us feel full longer. Most fats do this. Since this is true, then we might eat less food. Since SLIMShots is about 42% fat, then it kind of makes sense that it might work for some people.

That said, my question is this; would drinking a shot of olive oil do the same thing? I honestly don’t know because there isn’t too much research either way on this issue. I only mention this because when I saw SLIMShots in the supermarket, it was about $30 for 14 shots. If you take 3 shots a day, that's only about a 4 day supply. The cheapskate in me wondered if there was a less costly alternative.

What do you think