Skinny Water Claims to Aid Weight Loss

Dubious Skinny Water Claims Countered by 1998 Study

People want to believe that there is a magic bullet that will help them lose weight with little or no effort. Products like "Skinny Water," a new drink that purports to be a natural appetite suppressant, take advantage of this desire. Products like Skinny Water are rushed to market with little or no evidence that any of the benefits claimed are real. If you haven't heard of Skinny Water yet, you will. The company is signing on new distributors across the country. Skinny water may soon be finding its way to your supermarket shelves.

Skinny Water's Marketing Claims

Skinny Water, like many of these products, would like you to believe that there is strong scientific evidence behind their claims. From a press release found on their website, skinnywater.com, the company says "Super CitriMax is clinically proven to suppress appetite and improve weight loss by 350 percent. Super CitriMax includes Calcium that promotes fat burning and bone density." This is the statement that supposedly backs up the name Skinny Water. It is also the statement that they seem to be building the product marketing (and certainly the name, Skinny Water) around. No specific studies that could be reviewed were found on the company's web site. If the data is solid, present it.

Vitamin-Fortified Skinny Water
First, I want to say a couple things about other ingredients in Skinny Water. Skinny Water comes in several different varieties, I hesitate to say flavors since each variety claims different health benefits. I suppose a consumer would choose the one that provides the specific health benefit they need rather than the one whose taste they like better. At any rate, they offer one variety which is vitamin fortified and which provides 100% of the daily recommended allowance of vitamin B6, B12, C, E, and A. Assuming their measurements are correct and the nutrients are provided in a bio-available form, this is a good thing. Vitamin enriched foods are much better than the nutritionally void products put out by many companies. If they were marketing their products as a healthy and easier way to get your daily vitamins, I'd support the products wholeheartedly. We've been adding vitamin D to milk for years, after all. Instead, the folks behind Skinny Water seem to be taking the gimmicky approach, relying on the name Skinny Water and dubious weight loss claims to gain customers.

Study on Skinny Water's Active Ingredient

Skinny Water claims to aid weight loss through appetite suppression and by boosting the metabolism. They also claim that this ingredient is clinically proven to be effective. I looked through the available research and found a study (Heymsfeld, S.B., et al, 1998) published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The six doctors who co-authored the study stated that Hydroxycitric Acid (the "active" ingredient in CitriMax) "failed to produce significant weight loss and fat mass loss beyond that observed with placebo." That's a pretty clear statement about the effectiveness of the ingredients in Skinny Water. This information existed ten years ago, long before Skinny Water began hyping itself as a weight loss aid. I have to wonder whether they looked at existing research before making their claims.

Don't rely on gimmicky advertising claims if you need to lose weight. Reducing calories and undertaking a sensible exercise program works. It will also provide many other scientifically proven health benefits.