Reduslim Mercadona: does it really work?

Achieving optimal health is essential in an increasingly sedentary and wealthy society. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity has tripled on the planet since 1975. More than 1.9 billion adults in the world are overweight, of which 625 million are obese.

Hand in hand with these data, the complications associated with obesity also increase. Heart failure is the leading cause of death for adults in high-income countries, and this clinical picture is caused by overweight and obesity in up to 60% of cases. There is a clear correlation between elevated Body Mass Index (BMI) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), accelerated cellular aging, various types of cancer (gastric and colorectal, among others), depression, diabetes and others clinical entities.

The general population is increasingly aware of the dangers of obesity and sustained overweight, so more solutions are currently being sought to tackle this condition. However, up to 80% of people fail to try a typical diet. Dietary supplements come to try to help in the weight loss process, and Reduslim Mercadona is one of the most popular

in the parapharmaceutical field. Here we put it to the test.

• Related article: "Types of vitamins: functions and benefits for your body"

What are dietary supplements?

First of all, it is essential to define what a dietary supplement is in general, beyond the brand of the product and the surface on which it is distributed. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) defines a dietary supplement as a compound whose objective is to supplement (forgive the redundancy) individual feeding for a specific purpose.

These supplements typically contain one or more of the following ingredients: vitamins, minerals, elements typical of herbal medicine, amino acids, metabolites or ingredients and extracts product of the combination of these elements. Due to their primarily "herbal" nature, it should be noted that these compounds are not considered medicines, but rather are categorized under the category of dietary supplements.

This distinction, although it may not seem like it, is extremely important. As they are categorized as food and not as drugs or pharmaceuticals, the definition of their usefulness and efficacy is limited only to the seller of the product. In other words, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may recall a harmful supplement, but you do not have to check whether or not it is entirely useful for its intended purpose. devised.

For this reason, a supplement does not have to go through the entire process of analysis and laboratory tests to be put up for sale in a parapharmacy or large commercial area. In these cases, it only remains to trust (or not) the opinions of nutritionists or the supposed properties that the sellers of the product defend. As you can imagine at this point, it is necessary to always view these supplements from a skeptical point of view, since no one assures you that their usefulness is real. Be careful and don't be fooled.

What is Reduslim Mercadona? Works?

On this occasion, we have before us the Reduslim product, which is mainly for sale in the large Mercadona commercial chain. According to the official website of the product, this compound in the form of oral tablets blocks the absorption of fast carbohydrates, gives a feeling of fullness, burns stored fat and improves digestion, by accelerating the metabolism.

They also argue that "scientists have shown that Reduslim is effective in 99% of cases." We are going to test this claim by dissecting each of the essential compounds contained in the tablets.: L-Carnitine, Glucomannan Tuber Extract, Garcinia Cambodian Fruit Extract, and Wild Gymnema Leaf Extract. As we have not found such studies that demonstrate the efficacy of Reduslim, we have to turn to external scientific sources.

1. L-Carnitine

The clinical study Effects of l-carnitine supplementation on weight loss and body composition, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition in the year 2020, tries to explore the effects of L-carnitine on weight loss, after analyzing 37 different studies chosen in a random.

Apparently, L-Carnitine supplements appear to modestly reduce weight loss (1.21 kg) in obese people who are dieting with professional help. In any case, an optimal value of 2,000 milligrams of daily intake is established to observe effects significant, value that cannot be verified if the manufacturer of the tablets does not publish the exact percentages of each compound.

• You may be interested in: "Table of amino acids: functions, types and characteristics"

2. Glucomannan Tuber Extract

Glucomannan is a high molecular weight polysaccharide found in the cell walls of some plants, which is why it is considered a type of dietary fiber. It is often used as a food additive for its emulsifying and thickening properties, but in recent years it has also become fashionable as a dietary supplement.

The sources that market it argue that, when mixed with water, this type of fiber could take up space in the stomach, which would help increase satiety in the patient who is trying to decrease their intake caloric. Until now, the scientific community has not been able to confirm such properties, so this ingredient has not been associated with weight loss, at least in the laboratory setting.

3. Garcinia cambodian extract

The shrub referenced in the Reduslim table of contents is not really called that. Actually, we are talking about Garcinia gummi-gutta, a vegetable that grows in southern India and is within the Clusiaceae family. Since 2012, this garcinia fruit concentrate has undergone a media boom, as it is argued that it has miraculous abilities to reduce the weight of patients.

Nothing is further from reality. Not only have the effects of garcinia on dieters not been confirmed, but studies such as "The Use of Garcinia Extract (Hydroxycitric Acid) as a Weight loss Supplement "date that patients who consume this compound are twice as likely to have gastrointestinal symptoms during the process. Due to these studies (and the hepatotoxic potential of the compound), the withdrawal of this extract from the market has been repeatedly requested.

4. Wild Gymnema Leaf Extract

Again, the designation for this compound is not quite right. We assume that on the official Reduslim page it refers to Gymnema sylvestre, a climbing plant native to Asia, China and the Arabian peninsula.

In this case, the prospect is a bit more encouraging. Studies such as "Effects of a natural extract of (-) - hydroxycitric acid (HCA-SX) and a combination of HCA-SX plus niacin-bound chromium and Gymnema sylvestre extract on weight loss" have shown that some obese patients lost up to 6% more weight when taking supplements of this plant. The sample number is very low (60 patients monitored), but the results are not bad.

It seems that the chemical compounds of this plant adhere to the receptors of the intestinal walls, helping to reduce the absorption of simple sugars at the gastrointestinal level. This may promote insulin secretion into the bloodstream and lower blood sugar levels, although more research is required to confirm these properties.

Resume

If we are taught anything in schools that teach scientific disciplines, it is that we distrust words and pay more attention to numbers. Every biologist, nutritionist or health practitioner must have a skeptical point of view when it comes to talking about dietary supplements. Well, as we have said, its sale is not regulated at the government level, except in exceptional cases where the compound is dangerous.

We cannot assure you that Reduslim Mercadona is a scam, but of course its effectiveness has not been proven either (or the studies that prove it are not available to the public). It may or may not help with body mass reduction, but clearly unbiased studies do not seem to indicate that its efficacy is miraculous.

At this point and after the exposed data, the ability to choose only rests with the consumer. If you need more evidence to make a decision, check the bibliography, as we cite the studies consulted and many others.