Food and herbal nutritional products » Natural » The Dangers of Kardashian-Endorsed QuickTrim
The Dangers of Kardashian-Endorsed QuickTrim
View PDF | Print View
by: Guest
Total views: 484 Word Count: 919
I admit it. I'm a big fan of Kim Kardashian, even though she's famous for, well, being famous. (She's No. 6 on this list.) I'm hooked on her reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, respect her for denouncing drunken binges, and love that she embraces her much-celebrated curves. But Kim raised my eyebrows recently with her paid endorsement of a diet regimen called QuickTrim; in an interview with OK! magazine, she said she's used several of its products to quickly shed 15 pounds-and some of her curviness-in just a few weeks.
So what the heck is this weight-loss product? I wondered, after receiving an E-mail from QuickTrim 12 days ago announcing its "nationwide expansion to more than 25,000 retail chains," including Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and CVS. (It has been available at GNC stores since the summer.) Is this a liquid diet, like the one Oprah famously went on in 1988, taking pounds off before putting them right back on? Or is there something else in these products that Kim's 2.8 million Twitter fans need to know about? (Many of them have tweeted that, inspired by Kim, they're going to give it a try.)
After a series of phone calls, more than a dozen E-mails, and two canceled interviews, I finally got the message that QuickTrim executives weren't interested in answering my health-related questions.
So I turned to Adriane Fugh-Berman, a physician and associate professor in the complementary and alternative medicine master's degree program at Georgetown University Medical Center. She's an expert on herbs and was able to help me decipher the "Supplement Facts" label on four QuickTrim products.
Burn & Cleanse 14 Day Diet System. This purports to burn calories by day and cleanse by night. The morning and afternoon supplements contain a "thermogenic complex," two doses of which provide a total of 400 milligrams of caffeine-which is equivalent to four cups of coffee. The supplements also contain piperine (black pepper) and white willow bark extract, both of which Fugh-Berman says can increase the potency of caffeine, a stimulant that helps boost metabolism. Further down the ingredient list is green tea leaf extract, which may or may not contain caffeine. (QuickTrim declined to clarify this.) "It irritates me that they're not saying how much caffeine is in these pills," Fugh-Berman says. "Too much caffeine can make you jittery and increase your blood pressure and pulse. If you pop a couple of these pills with your Starbucks coffee, that's not good; you could get caffeine poisoning, which can cause heart arrhythmias."
The evening supplements contain the "IsoCleanse and Flush Herbal Complex," a combination of stimulant laxatives (senna, cascara, and rhubarb) and bulk laxatives (oat fiber, prunes, dates, and fig extracts) to increase the movement of food and liquid through your intestines. While Fugh-Berman says this might be helpful if you have constipation, it's not good for those with regular bowel habits. "You'll get diarrhea, which could cause dehydration and a loss of vital nutrients, which isn't good," she says. "Stimulant laxatives, of which IsoCleanse is chock-full, can cause your intestines to become dependent on them for stimulation, causing constipation if you stop."
Iso-Flush. This is taken along with the Burn & Cleanse system and contains a variety of herbal diuretics designed to shed water from the body. "I can't tell how much of each herb is in this product, but several of these-including juniper berry, uva ursi, and horsetail extract-shouldn't be taken over long periods of time because they can be toxic," says Fugh-Berman. Juniper, for example, can interfere with kidney function. The package instruction telling users to limit salt intake during the first week and to completely avoid any sodium during the second week is also concerning, says Fugh-Berman, because it can increase the likelihood of severe dehydration. "If you get rid of water, you will lose weight, but it's not real weight loss," she says, since the pounds will come right back the minute you go off the products. "There are also possible health risks involved with severe water loss," she adds, "like fainting from the loss of electrolytes, kidney stones, even full-blown kidney malfunction."
Fast Cleanse. This is billed as a "48-hour Super Diet Detox" designed to "help you drop a dress size for a special occasion." Golden Globe awards perhaps? In essence, this is a fiber-rich drink that you ingest four times a day between meals consisting of clear soups, gelatin, fruits, and vegetables. Certainly, you'll drop a few pounds on this plan, which is fine, says Fugh-Berman, as long as you don't mind putting them right back on after taking the dress to the cleaners.
Extreme Burn. I think this is supposed to be used long term after finishing the 14-day plan. It contains similar ingredients as the morning supplements on the Burn & Cleanse system-a lot of caffeine and herbs that might boost its potency.
In a nutshell, QuickTrim elixirs have some pretty powerful stimulants, laxatives, and diuretics. "I don't think anyone should take these products," Fugh-Berman says in response to my question about whether there are any health conditions that should preclude someone from using QuickTrim. The package material advises checking with a doctor before using the products, but I doubt many people do. I'm just curious as to whether Kim and her sister Chloe, who also lost weight on QuickTrim, will pack on the pounds again. I'll just have to keep watching their reality show to see.
Related News:
Good Reasons to Avoid Diet Coke Plus, Weight-Loss Supplements
Additional information:
Herbal Remedy Facts
Vitamins and Supplements From The Leading Vitamin Shop for Vitamin
Herbal Medicine
Healthy Choice Natural Remedies for Illness, Affordable Natural
Herbal Remedies, Medicines and Supplements for Weight Loss
Herbal Products and Supplements What You Should Know
Tips For The Savvy Supplement User: Making Informed Decisions And
Herbal Medicine University of Chicago Medical Center
Herbal Supplements and Herbs for Better Health
Buy herbal drugs online Herbal supplements No prescription needed
http://www.usnews.com/health/b...
Related "Naturopathic medicine":
- READER REPORT: On the ground in Hong Kong
Our plane lands and rolls slowly to the gate. Th ... - Cholesterol lowering herbs
High blood Cholesterol can effectively be lowered ... - Health notes: A spot check for ageing skin
Many older people develop brown 'age' spots, inv ... - Diabetes natural herbs - a natural diabetes treatment
Diabetics start searching for an alternative treat ... - Cancer patients especially vulnerable
Dr. Douglas Heller, an attending physician at Ben ...
Rating: Not yet rated (votes: 0)
