Take a look at this quote by Melinda Safir, R.D., L.D., a nutritionist based at Cooper Clinic, Dallas: "If carbohydrate blockers were the magic bullet for achieving weight loss, the epidemic of obesity would never have become the problem that it is today. The ability to choose what foods move from your plate into mouth is the most powerful carbohydrate blocker and weight-loss aid on the market. Every product touted as a weight-loss miracle pales in comparison to our own ability to control food selection and intake amount."



Obesity has been a major health problem for the Americans. Of late, starch or carbohydrate blockers have made their debut in the profitable weight loss market. They promise that they can allow enjoy your appealing starchy food such as potatoes, bread and pasta and lose weight concurrently.

For people who have great liking for starchy food and still want to maintain your weight, then it is no surprise why many people use carbohydrate blockers. Based on the information, they limit the amount of carbohydrates being processed by your body. This cuts down the ingestion of carbohydrate and calorie.

So, you must be wondering what does a carbohydrate blocker really do? In the content of the products, you will find bean and wheat germ extracts, more so from white kidney beans. The principal active content of carb blockers is phaseolamin. It hinders the production of alpha-amylase, the starch-digesting enzyme in the body. Thus, it forbids the bodily absorption of carb which allows the carbohydrate to pass through the body unnoticed.

People with high metabolism find it easier to lose weight. Metabolism refers to your body's process of ingesting, burning and eliminating the food you eat. If you have low metabolic rate, then you will store more fat. In this case, regular exercise and controlled diet serve no use. One of the benefits of carb blockers is it's ability to boost up your metabolic rate. This helps you to lose weight.

There are disagreements that these carb blockers don't work at all. According to Mayo Clinic's research, it would take about 4000 to 6000mg of phaseolamin to effectively inhibit the digestion of starch. The sad news is many carb blockers being sold do not even meet the minimum phaseolamin amount of 4000mg. In reality, a majority contain well below the recommended dosage which is a measly 500mg of white kidney bean extract. It was also discovered that the reduced digestion of carbs did not amount to any weight loss.

Another ground that they fail is because all the clinical studies of phaseolamin are done in the laboratory. When the phaseolamin is in the digestive system, it will be broken down by the digestive system before they can effectively prevent alpha-amylase from metabolizing carbs.

Based on these two findings, Pharmachem Laboratories, Inc. came out with a better variant of phaseolamin. During the clinical tests, the new phaseolamin 2250 or Phase 2 shows that it can neutralizes more than 560 grams of dietary starch or 2,250 starch calories while the phaseolamin can only curb 30 and 45 grams of carbs . In addition, the digestive juices had no negative effect on the new 100% pure carb blocker.

If you are following Atkins' diet, how does carb blockers benefit you? Atkins' diet and carbohydrate blockers do not work the same way. Atkins' diet focuses on low intake of carbs. However, some people on the Atkins' diet regard carb blockers as a cheat tool to allow them to eat more carbohydrates than they should. This is something you should be aware that carb blockers can only inhibit a certain amount of carbohydrates in your digestive system. If you eat too much carbohydrate rich foods, carb blockers may not sufficiently reduce the carbohydrates and your low carb diet would be busted. Carb blockers can help your Atkins' diet only when taken occasionally, like when you have a social event or a sudden craving.

So, why should you use carbohydrate blockers then? Although they play a small role in your weight loss or weight management program but they give you some freedom in consuming reasonable quantities of starchy foods occasionally. Now that you have a way to expand a little on your choice of food, you don't feel so stressed out with a restrictive diet plan. Moreover, they can help you to stick longer with the diet program. Whether you want to prevent the absorption of carbs or maintain your weight, you have to take carbohydrate blockers before meal.