What Is The Main Ingredient In Hydroxycut?

Weight loss is an incredibly complex, sensitive, and personal topic. It's one made all the more convoluted by ongoing research that seems to turn conventional weight loss advice on its head.

Harvard Health Publishing reports that the idea of counting calories, while widely popular, isn't an effective way to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight once achieved. Because everyone has a unique gut biome, their bodies process calories differently. This, combined with the fact that not all calories provide the same amount of energy or nutrition, means that decades of advice to just count "calories in and calories out" isn't as reliable as many people think.

Unfortunately, this form of appetite control is one of — if not the – most commonly suggested to people seeking weight loss advice. If the advice is, at best, unreliable then what are people to do?

Harvard Health suggests that people reduce their stress levels, take up regular exercise, and take time to improve their sleep quality. Over time, these suggestions can do wonders for not only a person's waistline but their overall health as well.

There are always people who don't want to take the long route, however. Whether they need to see results to meet a deadline or they're out of patience after years of trying other means, these people resort to more drastic methods. Products like Hydroxycut seem to be the answer. But a look at the ingredients list might make them reconsider.

As of 2018, there were 10 Hydroxycut products available in the United States market. These 10 products were researched for LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury. The article stats that there were initially other Hydroxycut products, many of which used ephedra as their main ingredient. These products were pulled in 2004 when the FDA banned ephedra.

The loss of ephedra meant that Hydroxycut had to focus on new chemicals to stimulate potential weight loss. Though its placement on its ingredients lists changes depending on the product, caffeine is that chemical according to LiverTox.

Hydroxycut gets its caffeine from a Robusta coffee extract which, according to Coffee Affection, is 2.2% caffeine compared to the 1.2% found in the more widely known Arabica coffee.

Caffeine may seem a little run-of-the-mill to be the main ingredient in a product like Hydroxycut. But as a 2019 edition of Nutrients states, caffeine intake has been linked to decreased waist circumference and BMI. The publication states that the link is minor compared to the links between weight loss and a healthy diet, but it exists all the same.

It may not be the futuristic miracle weight loss drug people hope for. But there is some comfort in knowing Hydroxycut's main ingredient is the same thing people all over the world drink in their morning coffee every day.