Zotrim Review

Suspicious as always of slimming pills, we thought we'd seek out the evidence for its effectiveness and see if it really can make a positive difference to your weight loss efforts.

Developed by the Danish scientist, Dr Lasse Hessel, Zotrim includes a range of plant extracts, which it's claimed have been used by South American tribes for centuries to prevent hunger and boost energy.

So what is Zotrim?

Zotrim Review - What is it...?

It's claimed that Zotrim works by making you feel full so you eat less and hence consume fewer calories, resulting in weight loss.

Zotrim contains guarana, yerba mate and damiana, which are South American herbs. We've reviewed the first two ingredients in our section on natural herbs for weight loss.

Damiana is claimed to stimulate the genito-urinary tract, acts as an aphrodisiac and produces a mild euphoric effect.

In preparing this Zotrim review we could find no studies that indicate it has any benefits in terms of weight loss, so would assume that it's included in Zotrim as a stimulant.

According to the ingredients list, the damiana extract accounts for 9% of the product, the guarana and yerba mate for 23.3% and 27.5% respectively.

Zotrim contains few more ingredients of note. Guarana also contains caffeine, another stimulant to add to the mix.

According to the manufacturers blurb, it's the combination of the three active ingredients in these precise ratios that are responsible for Zotrim's effectiveness.

They're claimed to have the effect of slowing the rate at which food leaves the stomach. This makes you feel full more quickly whilst eating and leaves you full and satisfied for longer between meals. The net effect being that you eat less.

We're not sure exactly how the three ingredients would achieve this effect.

There are a couple of other ingredients that contain cellulose, which may have a bulking effect in the stomach, although the quantities contained in the Zotrim tablets would be too small to have much of an effect.

So, what about the evidence that it does work?

Zotrim Review - Does it Work...?

The double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel trial (Andersen and Fogh, 2001) comprised 47 overweight people, half of whom took Zotrim for 45 days, the other half a placebo for the same period. The research participants were on no special dietary regime.

The Zotrim group had a prolonged gastric emptying time of 58 minutes compared to 38 minutes in the placebo group.

The average weight loss over the trial period was 5.1kg (11lbs) in the Zotrim group compared to 0.3kg (less than 1lb) in the placebo group. The results were statistically significant.

The 22 participants that continued to take Zotrim were followed up and maintained their weight loss over a full 12 months.

The researchers concluded that the supplement:

Impressive stuff. However, it's only one study and the researchers concluded that whilst promising, further clinical studies were needed.

The conclusion of our Zotrim review? Promising and may well be worth a try, particularly if combined with a diet and exercise program.

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