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If we are to believe the article that has been published in Phytomedicine, there’s a little known supplement on the market that helps those rolls of fat to melt away as if by magic. It’s called Sinetrol [sinetrol.com] and consists of polyphenols found in citrus fruits. According to Phytomedicine, you will lose 500 grams a week if you take 1.4 g of Sinetrol every day.

So let’s not beat about the bush here. The black bars in the figure below show what happens to the bodyweight of ten healthy test subjects who took this Sinetrol. The white bars represent the test subjects who were given a placebo. “During the clinical trial, participants maintain their previous daily physical exercise and eating habits (1500–2000 cal/day) without any particular dietetic program”, the researchers write.

Without dieting. Without doing cardio.


What can we say? Yeehah.

And now look at the figure below, which shows the test subjects’ body fat percentages: things get even better.


What on earth is in this stuff?

Well, according to the researchers, Sinetrol contains extracts of blood oranges, sweet oranges, bitter oranges [alias Citrus aurantium], grapefruit and guarana. Citrus aurantium is a source of synefrine and octopamine, but manufacturer Fytexia claims that the extract does not contain these substances. [fytexia.fr] The amount of caffeine, a component of guarana, is not that high either.

What Sinetrol does contain is polyphenols. The researchers provide an HPLC analysis of Sinetrol, which reveals the presence of narirutin, naringin, hesperidin, neohesperidin, delphinidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside, pelargonidin-3-glycoside, peonidin-3-glucoside and malvidin-3-glucoside.

These substances supposedly inhibit the working of the enzyme phosphodiesterase [PDE] in the fat cells. PDE is the enzyme that converts cAMP into AMP. So less active PDE means more cAMP. When hormones like adrenalin interact with the fat cells, cAMP makes sure that their signal is transferred to the enzymes that are responsible for getting the fatty acids out of the fat cells. Less active PDE in the fat cells therefore means that the fat cell releases more fatty acids into the bloodstream – where the body can burn them.

In a test-tube study the researchers show that Sinetrol does indeed inhibit PDE. And in test tubes they were also able to show that human fat cells release more fatty acids if they are exposed to Sinetrol – even though there are other substances that do this more effectively.


THE = theophylline (1mM); ISOP = isoproterenol (1 mM); CAFF = caffeine (0.5 mM); GUAR12 = guarana dry extract standardised at 12% of caffeine (20 mg/ml); Sinetrol = citrus-based dry extract standardised at 70% polyphenols (20 mg/ml).

It all sounds so fantastic that you’re perhaps wondering why haven’t read about Sinetrol in the newspapers. Surely such a ‘miracle product’ deserves some publicity?

Maybe it’s because science reporters and researchers don’t believe a word of the publication. Reporters and researchers are suspicious by nature. Those who do their homework on the authors of this study will quickly work out that they work for Fytexia, the makers of Sinetrol. The first author of the study, Constantin Dallas, is the owner of Fytexia. Sinetrol is his brainchild. [fytexia.fr]

And his bread and butter.



The present study investigated the lipolytic (break of fat stored) effect of a citrus-based polyphenolic dietary supplement (SINETROL) at human adipocytes (ex vivo), body fat (clinical) and biochemical levels (inhibition of phosphodiesterase). Free fatty acids (FFA) release was used as indicator of human adipocyte lipolysis and SINETROL activity has been compared with known lipolytic products (isoproterenol, theopylline and caffeine). SINETROL stimulated significantly the lipolytic activity in a range of 6 fold greater than the control. Moreover, SINETROL has 2.1 greater activity than guarana 12% caffeine while its content in caffeine is 3 times lower. Clinically, two groups of 10 volunteers with BMI relevant of overweight were compared during 4 and 12 weeks with 1.4 g/day SINETROL and placebo supplementation. In the SINETROL Group the body fat (%) decreased with a significant difference of 5.53% and 15.6% after 4 and 12 weeks, respectively, while the body weight (kg) decreased with a significant difference of 2.2 and 5.2 kg after 4 and 12 weeks, respectively. These observed effects are linked to SINETROL polyphenolic composition and its resulting synergistic activity. SINETROL is a potent inhibitor of cAMP-phosphodiesterase (PDE) (97%) compared to other purified compounds (cyanidin-3 glycoside, narangin, caffeine). These results suggest that SINETROL has a strong lipolytic effect mediated by cAMP-PDE inhibition. SINETROL may serve to prevent obesity by decreasing BMI.

PMID: 18617377 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18617377