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Summer is over and many of you may be feeling the effects of too many hot dogs and cold barley-based beverages. If you are part of the aesthetically conscious cohort, then you most likely came into the summer in phenomenal shape, and you may or may not have maintained this condition. Regardless of your current condition, the following information will come in handy for the months to come. The following article is intended to give you the basic science behind the newest key ingredients that should be included in a good fat burning/diet aid supplement.

Appetite Suppressants: Making dieting easy on the body and mind

• Slimaluma Extract (Caralluma Fimbriata)
  Currently the most innovative appetite-suppressing compound is a proprietary extract of the herb caralluma fimbriata, a substance Gencore Pacific Inc. trademarked Slimaluma. It has been through two clinical trials and was introduced recently into the market. According to Gencore, caralluma fimbriata is a succulent cactus used for centuries by locals in India for appetite suppression. In fact, it is essentially a vegetable of daily use in tribal India. Indian tribes chew chunks of caralluma fimbriata to suppress hunger when on a day's hunt and it is used among the labor classes in South India to suppress appetite and enhance endurance. The clinical efficacy of Slimaluma has been tested in recent placebo controlled double blind trials published in the journal Appetite. In this investigation the effect of caralluma extract was tested in overweight men and women. Fifty adult men and women were randomly assigned to an experimental or placebo group, where the former received 1g of Caralluma extract per day for 60 days. The authors concluded that caralluma fimbriata ingestion was a potent appetite suppressant and its ingestion led to dramatic decreases in waist circumference (Kuriyan et al., 2007).
  
  
• Mucuna Pruriens
  Mucuna pruriens, which originates from the velvet bean, is an ancient Indian herb that contains a large amount of bioavailable L-dopa (the precursor to dopamine). Remarkable benefits have been noted with Mucuna pruriens ingestion in patients with Parkinson's disease, a disorder that involves a declining production of dopamine (Katzenschlager et al., 2004). Dopamine is a fundamental neurotransmitter that signals areas of the brain that give you the sense of well being, alertness, motivation, and focus. It also is a key player in the signaling cascade for growth hormone (GH) release. Fundamentally, dopamine has been shown to inhibit hypothalamic somatostatin secretion, which then allows for a greater stimulatory effect of growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) which leads to greater release of GH by the pituitary gland. That being said, with Mucuna pruriens supplementation you will notice greater energy and focus and the benefits of augmented GH (increases in lean mass, strength, and decreased fat mass). In addition, the L-dopa in Mucuna pruriens has been shown to balance norepinephrine and serotonin in the brain, as well as exhibit potent antioxidant properties. These effects will augment your sense of well being, help to control food cravings, and stabilize mood.

Lipolytic and Thermogenic Agents: Making dieting more effective

• Green Tea Extract (Camillia Sinesis)
  A good fat-burning formulation should contain caffeine and green tea extract (standardized for high levels of catechins and EGCG), as the research is plentiful and conclusive regarding the positive effects of caffeine and green tea extracts on lipolysis and thermogenesis. Recently, it was concluded that caffeine and green tea catechins taken together cause significant increases in metabolism throughout the entire day and night (Acheson et al., 2004). For years scientists attributed the thermogenic benefits of green tea to its caffeine content alone; however this was not entirely correct. Biochemically, its effects are due to the interaction between its high catechin-polyphenol content and caffeine and their synergistic impact on sympathetically released norepinephrine (NE) (Dulloo et al., 2000). The synergistic action of these compounds inhibits the break-down of NE, a key player in fat mobilization, lipolysis, and appetite suppression. Applied evidence that supports the biochemistry comes from a number of clinically based studies. For example, in a recent investigation it was concluded that the combination of regular moderate treadmill exercise and green tea extract supplementation stimulates increased whole body fat utilization; an effect that is sustained long after the completion of exercise. Green tea extract has been shown to cause direct increases of lipolysis in the liver and in skeletal muscle (Shimotoyodome et al., 2005). More recent and supporting evidence illustrated that long-term intake of "catechin-rich" green tea extract combined with habitual aerobic exercise increases exercise endurance because of its positive impact on fat metabolism (Murase et al., 2006). Of note, be certain that your green tea product is standardized with high levels of polyphenols, catechins, and epigallocatchin-3-P-gallate.
  
  
• Raspberry Ketone (4-(4-hydroxyphenyl) butan-2-one)
  Raspberry ketone has been recently implicated as the newest "player" in the fat burning supplement scene. Morimoto et al. was the first to report the anti-obesity characteristics of raspberry ketone supplementation in male Wistar rats. After thorough biochemical and histochemical analysis they concluded that raspberry ketones impart substantial impact on the accumulation of fat. It was reported that its effects on lipolysis are manifested via stimulated metabolism of adipose tissue and inhibited small intestine absorption of dietary fat (by suppressing pancreatic lipase activity). They further concluded that raspberry ketone supplementation was effective in preventing sugar and fat induced fat accumulation (Morimoto et al., 2005).
  
  
• Green Coffee Extract
  Green coffee extract is another innovative and interesting compound just breaking into the fat burning supplement scene. We all know that coffee contains relatively high amounts of caffeine, but have you heard of coffee's other main constituent chlorogenic acid? This intriguing substance is almost completely lost during the coffee roasting process, but is highly bioavailable in green, unroasted coffee beans. Current research has shown that green coffee extract significantly elevates fat metabolism in the liver (as a result of chlorogenic acid) and the caffeine component suppresses fat absorption. As a result, green coffee extract suppresses body weight gain and visceral fat accumulation (Shimoda et al., 2006).

Imagine a supplement that incorporates a combination of these aforementioned science backed compounds into a single formulation. Well, fortunately the scientists at BioQuest have done there homework to stay on top of the game. Tetrazene Extreme is a novel and innovative fat loss product that battles fat accumulation and hunger while aiding in fat loss from all angles. As always they use standardized extracts to deliver the highest potency, while maintaining consistency between doses. Furthermore, their scientific team has added vinpocetine and huperzine A to Tetrazene Extreme, which ensures dieting sanity and makes it the most robust formula available to date. With Tetrazene Extreme you will eat less and make better food choices, and you will turn up metabolism to burn fat more effectively.

References
Acheson KJ, Gremaud G, Meirim I, Montigon F, Krebs Y, Fay LB, Gay LJ, Schneiter P, Schindler C, & Tappy L (2004). Metabolic effects of caffeine in humans: lipid oxidation or futile cycling? Am J Clin Nutr 79, 40-46.
Katzenschlager R, Evans A, Manson A, Patsalos PN, Ratnaraj N, Watt H, Timmermann L, Van der GR, & Lees AJ (2004). Mucuna pruriens in Parkinson's disease: a double blind clinical and pharmacological study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 75, 1672-1677.
Kuriyan R, Raj T, Srinivas SK, Vaz M, Rajendran R, & Kurpad AV (2007). Effect of Caralluma Fimbriata extract on appetite, food intake and anthropometry in adult Indian men and women. Appetite 48, 338-344.
Morimoto C, Satoh Y, Hara M, Inoue S, Tsujita T, & Okuda H (2005). Anti-obese action of raspberry ketone. Life Sci 77, 194-204.
Murase T, Haramizu S, Shimotoyodome A, Tokimitsu I, & Hase T (2006). Green tea extract improves running endurance in mice by stimulating lipid utilization during exercise. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 290, R1550-R1556.
Shimoda H, Seki E, & Aitani M (2006). Inhibitory effect of green coffee bean extract on fat accumulation and body weight gain in mice. BMC Complement Altern Med 6, 9.
Shimotoyodome A, Haramizu S, Inaba M, Murase T, & Tokimitsu I (2005). Exercise and green tea extract stimulate fat oxidation and prevent obesity in mice. Med Sci Sports Exerc 37, 1884-1892.