Discover if those weight gaining pills with shiny reviews actually work, or if it’s just another marketing scam. Especially looked at will be the CB1 Weight Gainer, which seems to be the most well known and marketed pill.
Do Weight Gaining Pills Such As CB1 Weight Gainer Actually Work?
Does the best CB-1 weight gain pill in the market really work?
Usually most people are trying to loose weight but there are quite a few in the spectrum struggling to gain weight. Of course we can be envious of these people who want to gain weight, but it is a real struggle for them to keep a healthy weight. There are varied reasons for people trying to gain weight, for instance illnesses like cancer, AIDS, lack of appetite, high energy sports or just plain and simple genetics of being skinny.
Similar to the struggle for loosing weight, the gaining weight becomes the entire focus of some people and they try everything there is to try to achieve their goal quickly and successfully. This involves overlooking the right way to eat food, instead use weight gain supplements thanks to the advertising agencies. Some of these supplements are portrayed as the best and quick solution to their problem of wanting to gain weight. One of such supplement right now in the market is CB-1 weight gain pill.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Based on our evaluation of CB-1 Weight Gainer, we DO NOT recommend this product due to a complete lack of evidence for the claim of it helping to gain weight, and the large amount of Vitamin D (375% daily value) present in it. Effectively, we consider this product to be a waste of money and potentially harmful for your health. If you want to know in more detail why it's ineffective, keep reading after the Spoiler.
If you want to save time, then here are The Scrutinizer's recommendations for gaining weight if you have a hard time eating enough:
There is no magic solution, and it takes nothing less than a life-style change to get to your desired weight. You have to incorporate a diet with high calorie foods (5 meals a day, up to 9 fruit snacks a day) and focus on strength training with as little cardio as possible. Strength training means that you should try to incorporate weight training with low repetitions (6-12 reps, 3-4 sets) and much weight.
When you follow a proper training schedule, you'll naturally get more hungry. However, in order to help with training, we recommend you to try Creatine and BCAA, because both have been shown highly efficient after evaluating all available evidence based on the approach of science based medicine. Our personal recommendation for quick weight gain is the Muscletech Hardgainer Creatine Formula from CellTech, because it already includes Creatine, BCAA and a lot of carbohydrates, which will help not only with the proper usage of Creatine from your body, but also increases your calory intake substantially. Blend it with some frozen fruits, and you'll have a healthy and tasty ice once a day.
***SPOILER END***
As seen from the supplemental fact sheet of CB-1 itself, the main ingredients are: Vitamin D (present as 375% of daily value), Zinc, a micronutrient (40% of daily value) and a combination of Echinacea (E. Purpurea and E. Angustifolia). The information states that CB-1 pills would help increase the appetite and slow down your metabolism. In addition, the weight gain website claims that people can gain 9 lbs. in one month and shows men in buff bodies and women with great curves after taking CB-1 pills. Seems like an absolute miracle weight gain pill, right? So, to look into the unbelievable claims of this weight gain miracle pill manufacturer, I assigned my team of scientists to look into the ingredients, metabolism and scientific evidence to back up the claims. Here is what they found out based on real biochemistry and metabolism:
In light of all that is known about metabolism and vitamins, and what is known about Echinacea, there is nothing more preposterous than the claims made by the CB-1 website. How is the question that comes to mind? Looking at the ingredients (leaflet above), what ingredient is going to increase the weight or stimulate the appetite after taking the CB-1 weight gain pills?
Lets look at the ingredients of CB-1 weight gain pill in sequence:
1. Vitamin D (1,500 IU; 375%daily value)
Vitamin D is classified as ‘fat soluble vitamin’ and was first discovered in 1920 to cure ‘Rickets’, a childhood disease related to bones. Vitamin D has been shown to play important role in bone fractures, prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, neuromuscular problems and diabetes. But there has been NO literature suggesting that this is an appetite stimulant or can lead to muscle mass or weight gain. Unlike other vitamins, this vitamin can be produced in the body in the presence of sunlight. It is only present in fish and egg yolk but even then it has to undergo a process in the body to make functional vitamin D.
In addition, little amounts of Vit D are needed and the latest recommended daily amount is about 800 IU. Since this vitamin is fat soluble, this means if there is less intake of this vitamin, the adipose tissue provides the vitamin to the body. At the same time, if taken regularly then the concentration of this vitamin can build up in toxic amounts. A toxicity of Vit D increases calcium levels in blood that leads to hypercalcemia and the symptoms include nausea, headaches, anorexia, kidney failure and even death.
CB-1 weight gain pills already contain 1,500 IU of Vitamin D that exceeds the recommended daily amounts. In addition, most of the western countries have milk fortified with this vitamin so that everyone gets the required amount in diet. Furthermore, people living in tropical weather where they get plenty of sunshine, do not need supplementation of this vitamin. So, if people start using this supplement as the label recommends, they would end up with Vit D toxicity in a few months.
2. Zinc (6 mg; 40% of DV)
This is the 2nd ingredient in the CB-1 weight gain pills. Zn is a trace metal very important for healthy functioning of the body like iron (Fe). Once again there is no evidence that links Zn to increased appetite or weight gain. The main function of Zn is to balance body’s immune system, and has a role in cell division, wound healing and breakdown of carbohydrates.
The daily recommended amounts for Zn are: Males aged 14yrs and over: 11 mg/day; and Females aged 14yrs and over: 9mg/day.
Again, Zn being a trace metal, meaning is required in very small quantities and taken more than daily value can cause Zn toxicity that includes, loss of hair and sense of smell, abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhea.
3. Echinacea (E. Purpurea and E. Angustifolia)
The other major ingredient of CB-1 weight gain pills is a mix of two strains of the herb called Echinacea. Research to date shows that Echinacea is helpful in reducing cold symptoms. It’s not clear whether it prevents cold or flu from happening.
Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database shows that Echinacea could increase side effect of a number of medicines if taken together, like Etoposide, lovastatin (Mevacor), clarithromycin (Biaxin), cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune), diltiazem (Cardizem), estrogens, indinavir (Crixivan), triazolam (Halcion), and many others. Similarly, Echinacea decreases the time of caffeine breakdown by the body. Taking Echinacea with coffee increases caffeine in the blood and presents side effects like jitterness, headache and fast heartbeat.
There is no scientific research that points to weight gain properties of this herb rather if taking the CB-1 pills, one has to be careful of supplements involved in the diet.
4. Isobutylamides
These are a group of chemicals called alkylamides that are similar to THC found in marijuana. These act on the cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 located in brain. It is known that THC leads to an increased appetite. In addition, Echinacea also contains different alkylamides and the one listed on the leaflet of CB-1 pills have a high affinity to bind both CB1 and CB2 receptors. But it is not known how much THC is actually being delivered in the body to give a boost to the appetite. Yes there are prescription medications like Marinol or Drabinol that contain pure THC that are reserved for patients with cancer, AIDS etc. to stimulate their appetite for nutrition purposes. But these medications should only be taken under a clinician’s supervision and is definitely NOT an answer to healthy people wanting to gain weight.
Therefore, this product might have weak appetite stimulating properties, if any. Furthermore, looking at all the other ingredients in this product, it is not healthy to use it for more than a month at the most (reasons listed above).
However, eating more without a plan will only lead to fat gain and you need to gain weight in a healthy manner i.e. muscle mass for which a combination of work out routine and diet has to be followed.
If you like evaluations based on science based medicine from experts and without bias, give us a visit on TheScrutiniZer.net.
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