Raspberry Ketone: Miracle or Snake Oil?
You’d have to have been living under a rock to not have heard all the weight loss in a bottle hype around the newest fad on the market--raspberry ketone. Raspberry ketones have been touted as the next weight-loss miracle drug, with manufacturers claiming 
that the ketones help your body break down fat more efficiently, subsequently helping you lose more weight. They’ve been said to actually melt away fat and prevent weight gain--even in the face of a high-fat diet. YAY, right?? But what is it and does it work?
Raspberry ketone is the natural phenolic compound found in raspberries. It’s basically the compound that gives raspberries their yummy scent. Until recently, raspberry ketones were used by the perfume and food industries, but now it’s also the newest fat burner to hit shelves. The switch to fat burner occurred when its similarity to capsaicin (found in chili pepper plants) was found. Capsaicin is also thought to possess anti-obesity and fat metabolizing properties.
According to Dr. Mehmet Oz--America's (and Oprah Winfrey's) favorite (my least favorite, btw) physician-turned-television star--raspberry ketone is nothing short of a weight-loss miracle. But of course, he says that about everything, doesn’t he? He likens the effects of raspberry ketone on fat cells to that of liquid nitrogen on balloons. He talks about the “research” and promises the supplement will bring about dramatic physical changes.
So, let’s take a look at the research, shall we?
The excitement is somewhat understandable. In the studies that have been conducted, raspberry ketones do appear to alter metabolism. As a result, fat processing was sped up, there was a reduction of fatty tissue, especially in the liver and it also seemed to affect the production of certain hormones that increase the body's ability to burn fat. That DOES sound like a miracle!
BUT--and there’s always a but--at the time of this writing, there have been NO st
udies done on humans. The ONLY studies on the effect of raspberry ketones on fat are TWO that have been done on mice and rats and one that was conducted on isolated cells in a test tube. There have been NO studies on the effect of raspberry ketones on people and no way to know if the results would be replicated in people.
Mice and rats are not humans. Yes, rodents are often used as precursors to human studies but we only share around 85 percent of the same DNA as mice. On top of that, the rodents lived in cages, on controlled diets--not the real world that we live in. They had no access to fast food, ice cream, pizza, chips, or other fat-inducing snacks, so I see no real connection of any kind between the rodent studies or the test tube study and real life application.
Listen, there are literally hundreds of “miracle” fat burning and weight loss products available as we speak and yet, obesity rates are still soaring out of control. If these products actually worked, would the obesity rates really still be so out of control? Sadly, more and more people are desperate to lose weight and almost none of them want to work for it so the fads are only going to continue to grow as the diet industry finds new ways to cash in using products like this that have very questionable “studies”, if any at all. In my opinion, although these three initial studies seem encouraging on the surface, raspberry ketone is really just another of these snake oil products. The reality is, you need to eat right and exercise. THAT science is NOT debatable and works 100% of the time. And lastly, before going out and spending your hard earned dollars every time Dr. Oz or someone else starts advertising claims of miracle weight loss products, do your own research into their research claims.
Roni Davis
National Level NPC Figure Athlete
Personal Trainer
Nutrition Consultant
Online Coach
www.facebook.com/RoniDavisFigureAthlete
Resources
Morimoto C, Satoh Y, Hara M, Inoue S, Tsujita T, & Okuda H. (2005). Anti-obese action of raspberry ketone. Life Sciences. 77(2), 194-204.
Planta Med. 2010 Oct;76(15):1654-8. doi: 10.1055/s-0030-1249860. Epub 2010 Apr 27.
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