Calorad: The truth about the weight loss supplement.

Con: The following review was written by Bill Sukala:

William R. Sukala,MS,CSCS is a clinical exercise physiologist and
health/fitness writer, lecturer, and consultant. He owns and operates Pinnacle Medical Exercise in Wellington, New Zealand. For more information, visit www.williamsukala.com

INTRODUCTION
Calorad stormed onto the scene around the mid to late 1990s with claims that you can “lose weight while you sleep.” This product claims to improve a multitude of ills. The magic that seems of particular interest to the athlete are the claims that this product will enable one to lose fat and increase muscle mass without any real effort. We want to believe, but are we really that gullible? Are there any facts behind the product claims? Let’s start out with a closer look at the mystery ingredients found in Calorad.

MYSTERY INGREDIENTS?
Truth be known, there is nothing whatsoever mystical or magical about Calorad other than it is an expensive protein supplement. A breakdown of the ingredient list reveals:

Collagen Hydrolysate—Simply hydrolyzed collagen which is nothing more than degraded protein (collagen is a bodily protein). Why not eat an egg or a slice of chicken, or a can of tuna for $1.39?

Aloe Vera—has a laxative effect when ingested orally and can cause gastrointestinal upset in some individuals. I guess frequent trips to the bathroom could theoretically cause weight loss.

Glycerin—chemically, it is a sugar alcohol (1,2,3 propanetriol). It is probably used as a mild sweetener, as many users have mentioned Calorad’s off-taste.

Potassium Sorbate & Methyl Paraben—Nothing more than preservatives to keep the collagen from spoiling.

Natural Flavor, Demineralised Water—Just a couple of extras for flavor and volume, but would hardly have any effect in the body.

This, in fact, doesn’t appear to have any thing to do with magic. All of these nutrients can easily be found in food that we all eat on a daily basis.

WEIGHT LOSS
It is probable that the said weight-loss associated with Calorad stems from the fact that its users don’t eat anything before bed, three hours to be exact. Then the consumer is supposed to take the Calorad on an empty stomach right before going to sleep. Low and behold, watch the pounds not-so-miraculously melt away.

Enter critical thinking here: Let’s say Mary Q. Public was formerly eating 2500 calories per day, and hypothetically, 500 of those calories were regularly consumed within three hours before bed. So now she’s replacing those 500 calories with 14 calories worth of Calorad, for a deficit of 486 calories per day.

Considering about 3500 calories per pound of fat, we estimate that 486 calories (round up to 500 for simplicity purposes) multiplied by 7 days per week equals 3500 calories extra that are not being consumed. This alone would constitute a pound of fat per week. Add in exercise and the caloric deficit would be larger, consequently leading to greater weight loss. No magic here, just elementary arithmetic.

If we eat less that what we need for energy we lose weight. We certainly don’t need to spend extra money on Calorad to eat less. Well we still have another claim. Calorad’s promoters tell us to believe that this product will cause us to magically increase our muscle mass. Is there any truth to this claim?

LEAN BODY MASS INCREASES?
Believe it or not the claims still persist that Calorad will actually generate muscle in the body, or, I think the terminology used was that it can cause an increase in lean body mass. Irrespective of what is claimed, muscle does not just spontaneously generate based on the consumption of a protein supplement. To take this one step further, you could inject yourself with anabolic steroids (not that I advocate that) and not gain an ounce of muscle unless you provide additional demands on the body’s musculature via resistance training. It’s quite unlikely that hydrolyzed collagen certainly would cause an increase in lean body mass.

Ceding the benefit of the doubt, consuming protein while lowering calories can help attenuate the loss in muscle tissue associated with its breakdown for use in gluconeogenesis (forming glucose from not carbohydrate sources). But even so, this would not cause an increase in lean body mass. In this case, the burden of proof is on the company to provide legitimate evidence that it can, in fact, INCREASE lean body mass, and consequently the metabolic rate.

To those selling Calorad, if this proof exists please provide it for all to see. If you are convinced that it can increase lean body mass, explain how you quantify this increase. What tests have you done to prove that Calorad does indeed increase the amount of muscle? These are honest questions that deserve an answer. Is this not a claim made by Calorad and its force of distributors?

THE RESEARCH
There is no formal research on Calorad that can be found in peer-reviewed journals. Why? Simply because it does not exist. Anecdotal testimonials considered to be testing or proof of efficacy are completely unscientific and hold no merit except for those that sell the product. And, separating cause and effect from coincidence is difficult outside of experimentally controlled conditions, so making definitive statements as to its effectiveness is inappropriate.

Pro Review for Calorad