Doctor Reviews: PhenQ

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PhenQ is a branded combination supplement being marketed for weight loss. But does it work? And is it safe to use?

Let’s comprehensively review PhenQ, see what cheaper alternatives exist, and find out why it’s worthless for weight loss.

Ingredients of PhenQ

The recommended dosing is once at breakfast, and once at lunch, so that’s a daily dose of two per day.

Despite the name PhenQ, the supplement doesn’t contain any of the medication phentermine, which is good since phentermine is a prescription medication and can’t be purchased legally in an over-the-counter supplement.

There’s quite a few ingredients here, so let’s analyze the ingredients one at a time.

Calcium carbonate

Some research suggests that people with low calcium intake are more likely to gain weight. There is additional evidence to suggest that dairy intake may help with weight loss, particularly in those with low dietary calcium intake.

However, this effect on weight loss appears to only be the case in those who aren’t getting enough calcium in their diet.

Furthermore, studies that supplement calcium in non-deficient, healthy, overweight adults, find no effect on weight loss.

So if you were deficient in calcium, or needed more calcium on a day-to-day basis like with post-menopausal women, taking the daily 1250 mg of calcium PhenQ provides might help with weight loss.

But even if that were the case, you would likely find it much cheaper to take a regular calcium supplement, or to introduce some dairy, or calcium-rich foods into your diet.

Caffeine anhydrous

This is likely the most “effective” part of the supplement, as caffeine does have some potential uses for weight loss, mostly in the form of increased energy leading to more frequent and intense physical activity.

We have a video specifically on caffeine and coffee for weight loss, you can check it out in the description down below.

The 300 mg of caffeine PhenQ provides per day is equivalent to around 6 shots of espresso.

That’s quite a lot, so if you have blood pressure or anxiety issues, you should probably ask your doctor first.

L-Carnitine Fumarate

L-Carnitine is an amino acid that’s used by your body to help convert fat into energy. It’s like an energy transport for fat cells.

Research has shown that supplementing L-carnitine has some small effects on weight loss, with patients losing on average 2-3 pounds over a few months.

Unfortunately, the doses that were used in those studies were over 2 grams per day. That’s at least 2000 mg per day.

We’re getting about 285 mg per day in PhenQ. So we’re about 7 times too short.

α-LACY

α-LACY or α-LACYS RESET is a proprietary blend of Alpha Lipoic Acid and Cysteine. The blend is approximately 50% of each.

Alpha lipoic acid is an antioxidant that might have some effects on fat metabolism.

Indeed, there is some evidence to suggest it might be helpful for weight loss, with patients losing on average 3-4 pounds over a few months.

Again, dosing is a problem here, since the effective doses that were used in those studies, were on average around 1000 mg of alpha-lipoic acid per day.

PhenQ provides about 25 mg per day. That’s 40 times less than the effective dose.

Cysteine is an amino acid that, as far as I know, has no significant effects on weight loss, so I’m not sure why it was included.

But my guess would be cost.

They may have wanted to include some alpha-lipoic acid in the supplement, and purchasing a bulk amount of this α-LACY pre-mixed blend might have been cheaper than getting pure alpha-lipoic acid.

This type of substitution is common in the supplement industry to save costs.

Nopal

Nopal are cactus pads. It’s a vegetable eaten in Mexican cuisine.

For weight loss, much like any vegetable, it provides soluble fiber, which bulks out the stomach and makes you feel fuller.

This is why many vegetables, including nopal, are a great addition to any weight loss diet.

The amount of soluble fiber needed to help people feel fuller and eat less varies from person to person, but most research suggests supplementing around 3-9 g of soluble fiber per day is needed for some noticeable effects.

Unfortunately, the 50 mg dose provided by PhenQ is the equivalent of eating a pea-sized amount of nopal vegetable, and hoping that it’s going to make you feel full.

Yeah that’s not going to do anything.

Magnesium stearate

Magnesium stearate is a powder that coats the pills, and is commonly used as a lubricant to make pills easier to swallow. So this is an inactive filler.

Capsicum extract

Here is an example of tricky labeling.

Did you catch it? The label says capsicum extract, not capsaicin extract.

Capsicum refers to a family of vegetables that include non-spicy chili and bell peppers. Capsaicin is the chemical compound that makes things taste spicy, and is the compound that might help some people with weight loss.

So even though capsicum extracts may contain small amounts of capsaicin, it’ll be nowhere near as potent as pure capsaicin.

Even then pure capsaicin may only have limited uses in weight loss, you can check it out in another video down in the description where we cover capsaicin for weight loss.

Sipernat 225

According to the manufacturer, Sipernat 225 is a food-grade silica that helps to convert liquids into crushable powder.

So this is another inactive filler. Why they keep putting fillers into the active ingredients list is beyond me.

Niacin powder

Niacin is vitamin B3, and like many of the other B vitamins, particularly B12 or B6, they’re essential vitamins used by the body for fat metabolism.

Niacin can be found in nearly all foods, from vegetables to fruits, to meats to whole grains. And the dose used here is pretty small, so unless you’re severely deficient in niacin, which is very rare in North America, it won’t make a difference.

If you were deficient in niacin, I would recommend just taking a regular niacin supplement. It’ll be way cheaper.

Piperine extract

Piperine is a compound found in pepper that’s responsible for its peppery flavor.

There is some belief that piperine can in some way help with weight loss by stimulating metabolism.

Unfortunately, the research doesn’t appear to reflect this, so based on what we know its effects on weight are likely insignificant.

Piperine is also sometimes used in combination supplements to help improve the absorption of other components within the supplement, such as turmeric.

There is some weak evidence that piperine might improve caffeine absorption, but there’s already enough caffeine in PhenQ. Unless you’re trying to pull multiple all-nighters, you don’t need any more for weight loss.

Chromium picolinate

There is some weak evidence to suggest that supplementing chromium in people who have insulin resistance problems like diabetes or PCOS, might slightly help with their weight loss, with the average patient losing around 1 pound over a few months.

But this tiny effect on weight appears to only affect those populations. Studies that supplement chromium in healthy, overweight adults, find no effect on weight loss.

The doses used in those studies hover around 200 mcg, so this time, PhenQ gets pretty close at 160 mcg.

PhenQ Side Effects and Concerns

From the listed ingredients, my main concern would be the amounts of caffeine.

If you have cardiovascular issues, suffer from anxiety disorders, or are taking other stimulant drugs like phentermine, you need to ask your doctor to see if it’s safe.

This is also not safe for pregnancy or if you were breastfeeding.

I wouldn’t exceed the suggested dosing of two capsules per day or the amounts of caffeine might start causing symptoms of caffeine overdose like anxiety, headaches, or dizziness.

I would also avoid taking it in the evening, or it might cause insomnia.

Is PhenQ effective?

It appears the primary way PhenQ would work, if it did at all, would be thanks to all that caffeine.

Caffeine can give some people more energy to exercise more frequently, and with greater intensity.

It might be helpful if you’re calcium deficient, and require more calcium.

It might also be helpful if you have insulin resistance, like if you had type 2 diabetes or PCOS, since chromium can be helpful in those individuals.

However you could achieve a better effect much more cost efficiently with a regular calcium or chromium supplement.

For the other fancy-looking ingredients, the doses obtained from PhenQ are miniscule, and likely will not have any effect on weight loss.

Calcium and chromium are only useful in certain populations in terms of helping with weight loss, and even then, their effects are relatively modest.

Overall review: PhenQ

Reviewing PhenQ by effectiveness for weight loss, I’m giving it a C. It works as an exercise aid, and taking it without increasing your exercise is not likely going to have any effects on weight whatsoever.

Reviewing PhenQ by cost, I’m giving it a F. A monthly cost of $90 CAD is pricy, especially when it can be essentially replicated by getting individual ingredients at a cost many times less.

Reviewing PhenQ for safety, I’m giving it a C. It’s not safe for everyone to use due to the high caffeine content.

Overall review, I’m giving PhenQ a D. I would not recommend it at all.

Top alternatives to PhenQ

Overall, PhenQ is essentially just an overpriced caffeine pill, with some added calcium and chromium.

PhenQ tries to combine a few other helpful ingredients. However, the doses that it uses effectively limit it to just a calcium, chromium, and caffeine supplement.

If you’re looking to achieve similar effects, but better than those of PhenQ, I would combine a quality L-carnitine + calcium + chromium + caffeine.

• Caffeine anhydrous – 1 cap / day
• Calcium carbonate – 1 to 2 caps / day
• Calcium citrate – 2 to 4 caps / day
• Chromium nicotinate (GTF) – 1 to 5 caps / day
• Chromium picolinate – 1 to 5 caps / day
• L-Carnitine (caps) – 2 to 4 caps / day
• L-Carnitine (powder) – 2 to 4 scoops / day

Learn more about

• Is coffee good for weight loss?
• Chromium for weight loss
• 6 Things To Look For On Supplements
• 5 Things to Know Before Buying Weight Loss Supplements
• Other weight loss supplements

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