What is it?
Hydroxycut is a weight loss brand that’s available in different forms, with common ingredients such as green coffee bean. They often use this ingredient to show that within 60 days, people lost 10.95 pounds versus a placebo.
The intended benefits of this brand are increased fat loss, energy, and enhanced metabolism. For their caffeine brands, they advise to start with just 1 capsule a day, then eventually building up to 2 capsules twice a day. Their Hydroxycut blend is a proprietary formula featuring fruit, green coffee, and saffron. In this review you’ll learn about the surprising company history, what customers have to say about it, and whether or not it’s a good weight loss supplement. The top 10 diet pills are featured in this comprehensive list.
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Hydroxycut Ingredients and Side Effects
Robusta Coffee Extract (45% (Chlorogenic Acid)
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Papaya
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Blackberry
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Saffron Extract
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Caffeine Anhydrous
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Maqui
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Amla Extract
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Microcrystalline Cellulose
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Dicalcium Phosphate Dihydrate
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Pre-gelatinized Starch
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Stearic Acid
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Titanium Dioxide
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Polyethylene Glycol
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Talc
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Croscarmellose Sodium
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Magnesium Stearate
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Silicon Dioxide
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Robusta Coffee Extract (45% Chlorogenic Acid): Unroasted Robusta coffee, which is a species of coffee bean known for its higher bitterness and acidity.
It’s intended to help improve metabolism and control blood sugar. It can potentially cause side effects that include:
- Insomnia, nausea, and agitation.
- Anxiety, rapid heart rate, and difficulty concentrating.
- Restlessness, ringing in the ears, and headaches.
A study is provided by the manufacturers to show how effective this ingredient is versus a placebo.
The study was funded by a company who sells this extract, so there’s a potential for bias. In this study they took 50 volunteers and made them follow a low calorie diet.
Other unbiased studies have shown this ingredient to be ineffective for weight loss. Examine.com adds:
“seems weakly to moderately effective (on fat loss)”
It’s possible the only reason for fat loss is due to the caffeine.
Saffron Extract: Plant extract that’s used in cooking, as well as a way to improve mood and reduce sickness. Though there isn’t sufficient studies about its use. Web MD adds:
“There isn’t enough information to know how saffron might work”
“Taking large amounts of saffron by mough is POSSIBLY UNSAFE”
Possible side effects include:
- Yellowing of the skin and eyes.
- Poisoning.
- Vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and numbness.
- Death.
When taken at large amounts there have been cases of people dying from this.
Caffeine Anhydrous: Dehydrated form of caffeine that stimulates the central nervous system, it increaseses energy and metabolism.
A full serving of Hydroxycut Pro Clinical, their flagship brand, has 400 mg per daily serving. This is the maximum allowed limit for caffeine, and due to this, the company mentions:
“Do not take within 5 hours of bedtime”
“Consume 8 to 10 glasses of water per day”
This is to avoid both insomnia and dehydration. They also advise to not take any other stimulants, since it would likely raise the risk for serious side effects. Though on its own, it can potentially cause:
- Anxiety, agitation, and pain in the chest.
- Rapid heart rate, tremors, and jitters.
- Cardiovascular damage, insomnia, and restlessness.
- Dehydration, headaches, and mood swings.
Caffeine also has limitations, as Examine.com adds:
“Habitual caffeine use leads to tolerance. This means the effects of caffeine will be diminished… where the only benefit a user experiences is caffeine’s anti-sleep effect”
Therefore, caffeine must be only taken for short periods before it loses its potential weight loss effects.
Certain people are much more sensitive to caffeine, and that’s why it’s advised to slowly introduce this brand, and to not take more than just 1 pill to start with.
Maqui: A berry found in parts of Latin America, it’s used to help with weight loss. However, Web MD adds:
“There isn’t enough information to know if maqui is safe”
The possible side effects are also not known.
Amla Extract: This fruit has been used to lower bad cholesterol, and to provide antioxidant support. Though Examine.com adds:
“there is not enough evidence to recommend Amla for any particular purpose”
There have also been cases of people experiencing liver damage.
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Hydroxycut Quality of Ingredients
Ingredients like amla, maqui, and saffron have not been thoroughly studied and it’s unknown if they would affect weight loss.
Then there’s the added caffeine and green coffee bean which are the key active ingredients. Caffeine can be replaced with coffee or tea for cheaper and green coffee bean hasn’t shown any valuable weight loss effects. Studies have shown it to be either ineffective, or weak in its possible weight loss effects.
For the kinds of ingredients used, the lack of clinical studies for some ingredients, and the unknown side effects of certain additives, this mixture is a poor choice for weight loss. There are far too many unanswered questions to determine what the formula might do.
The Price and Quality of Hydroxycut
Sales are not offered via the manfaucturer, but they do suggest multiple online and in store 3rd party retailers.
Amazon.com sells one 150 capsule bottle for $28.56. At the maximum dosage of 4 capsules a day, this lasts for a total of 37.5 days. This makes the daily cost for supplementation 76 cents.
Though inexpensive, many of the ingredinets in this are either innefective for weight loss, not yet proven, or can be replaced.
There’s a high amount of caffeine in this which isn’t a long lasting source for weight loss. It may also provide side effects. Stimulant free options for long lasting weight loss are available if you click here.
Caffeine at 400 mg is roughly 4 cups of coffee. That’s why special considerations must be put in place to help protect against side effects. Still, the key active ingredients in caffeine and green coffee bean extract aren’t enough to suggest both reliable and safe effects. These two ingredients can also be replaced for much cheaper.
Business of Hydroxycut
The owners of this brand are Iovate Health Sciences Inc. They can be reached via the following:
Phone Number: (888) 334-4448
Address: 381 North Service Road West
Oakville, ON, L6M 0H4 Canada
Email: [email protected]
The company has been in trouble with both the FDA and FTC.
The FTC fined them $5.5 million dollars for making false advertising claims about their supplements. This included stating that their brands had positive health benefits, and because of this, they were required to refund customers who bought supplements from them.
The FDA also sent them a warning letter due to:
“liver toxicity associated with the use of multiple versions of the dietary supplement Hydroxycut”
“Agency has concluded that the ingestion of the dietary supplement Hydroxycut presents a severe potentially life-threatening hazard to some users”
This forced the company to schedule a mandatory recall on all Hydroxycut on the market. There were 23 reports of severe health problems due to this supplement, and one person died from it.
After this, in 2024 and 2024 there were still incidents of heart problems and ulcers associated the use of Hydroxycut.
They currently have 6 complaints on their Better Business Bureau website. This is due to issues with service, the products, and a lack of communication from the company.
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Customer Opinions of Hydroxycut
Here are select reviews from online customers:
“I really don’t have any effect using this product”
“Made me feel super sick and dizzy”
“It’s mostly a glorified caffeine pill”
“I had severe nausea, abdominal pain and felt like my stomach was on fire”
Amazon.com currently features 535 complaints. It’s often mentioned from customers that they experienced side effects, as well as a lack of weight loss.
Common side effects experienced by users include nausea, stomach pain, anxiety, rapid heart rate, restlessness, anxiousness, agitation, and some experienced difficulty breathing.
Many also said this is basically just a caffeine pill, and that it had no noticeable weight loss effects.
Conclusion - Does Hydroxycut Work?
The key features to notice about this brand are the company history, and the kinds of ingredients used. Many customers have failed to see any weight loss benefits, and people describe it as a caffeine pill. This is likely because the only ingredeints in this that might have a weight loss effect are caffeine and green coffee extract. There’s not enough in this to suggest it would help benefit people. The company has also had to recall Hydroxycut due to serious health concerns. There’s also a lot of caffeine added to this, with a full serving providing the maximum recommended dosage strength for caffeine.
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User Feedback
(Page 8 of 41, 802 total comments)Mikey D
-yea i been taking it for a couple days and i remember someone saying your throat aches almost like strep throat, good thing i read it cause i am too experiencing the same thing, my throat has almost like a stinging sensation, not too bad, but i figured i would try it out, i dont recommend people who have a case of anxiety or panic attacks to take this stuff, plus i also researched that there are ingredients in here that could cause permant heart valve damage, and other harmful things to your heart and liver, my advice would be train the good old fashion way, diet and excercise, although this product seems to work great for shedding stubborn fat, it's not worth the long term effects, TRUST ME
posted Apr 3rd, 2009 3:25 pmMikey D
there are alot of people arguing on this product that it may not work, and there is too many side effects, there are a few different reasons why, 1) everyones body reacts to EVERYTHING a different way, some people struggle to lose weight, some people get anxiety attacks from it, etc.... but in all actuality caffeine is 1 of the key ingredients in fat loss, green tea........has caffeine, every weight loss pill on the market wether it works or not, has caffeine in it, all the different hydroxcuts are different, i use the Hardcore hydroxycut, but i only recommend HC to people who have hit a plataeu in their weight loss, either way this pills not going to work if you sit on your butt all day, you need to diet and excercise............also u would think cardio is the greatest thing to burn weight the more you run the more you lose right? wrong!!! because your only recommended to use 75 to 80% of your heart rate because using more then that will give you now results cause once you hit over 80 percent, instead of burning fat, your heart is gonna be trying to keep the oxygen flowing and the heart pumping..........honestly you should really only use hydroxcut once you hit a plataeu (or however you spell that) in ur weight loss...........but in all actuality i recommend a good diet and excercise, if you are overweight start with diet.........i have lost over 30 pounds in 1 month on diet alone, pops, fruit juices with tons of sugar in them, sugar turns into stubborn fat, and stay away from as much as possible the trans and saturated fats which are the bad fats, and lean more on things like poly and monosaturated fats, which is the good fats.......this pill is not going to work for everyone, and there is a possibility that you may be jittery with the amount of caffeine, but its a proven fact caffeine helps you burn the fat.......and green tea is possibly one of the best natural ways to get it, untill you load it with sugar to sweeten it, diets huge key part in weight loss, try something, instead of drinking juice and pop, drink nothing but water for the next couple weeks, i lost 5-6 pounds just doing that, it may not work for everyone but just try it, then switch your eating habits, such as fibers in the morning which help reduce cholesterol and also help lose a little weight, oatmeal, cheerio's with the low sugar, whole wheat breads, cause your other breads contain a decent amount of sugar as well, boiled eggs is a great source of protein, and also key in building muscle, which for people who dont know fat turns into muscle which is why excercising with weights also helps you lose alot of muscle, but i used to be 252 pounds and only a month and a half later before even using hydroxycut, i currently weight 215 pounds, get a notepad and write down what you eat everyday, and when you go to your doctor for anything or just your yearly checkup, show him your list and let him guide you from there, im sorry for this long long review, i hope this helped clear up a little misunderstanding, and also sorry for repeating myself if i did at anytime in this story, and for those who overweight do not pay attention to your scale or BMI, cause looking at your scale can make you lose bigtime motivation and make you not wanna follow through with your workouts, and BMI is inaccurate going by your weight age and height, because if your a solid mass type of person (muscle weighs more then fat) your BMI is going to be high and therefore being obese, or if your older or have less muscle mass and more fat, then your BMI will tell you your underweight, best way to measure BMI is the skinfold technique by pulling your extra skin and using calipers to measure it, but most people do not know this way of calculating which could also lead to inaccuracy, but those looking to lose weight and get energy, eat a healthy breakfast and excercise is the best way for energy boosting and loosing weight the good ol' Natural way
posted Apr 2nd, 2009 8:36 pmKatie
-If caffeine doesn't have a big effect on you, chances are this pill won't affect you. I took them for a few days and felt absolutely nothing. Then again, I could drink coffee and go straight to bed. So unless you get some kind of energy boost from caffeine, don't waste your money.
posted Apr 2nd, 2009 3:44 pmlake
+I'm 19 years old, male, 165lbs at 5'8". I'm pretty muscular and only have 13% BMI (Body Mass Index - in other words, 13% of my weight is body fat) which is lower than average. My goal is to drop my BMI to 9% (think olympic swimmer) to get better muscle definition.
posted Apr 2nd, 2009 1:17 amToday was my first day, i took 4 tablets (they recommend 3 per day for the first few days). I took one at breakfast, two at lunch, and one at dinner. I had NO side effects whatsoever. My parents love coffee, so I've grown up with the caffeine. Even when I took two at lunch I felt very little caffeine kick. The caffeine is what causes the bad side effects in some users.
My recommendation is go to a coffee shop and ask for a "Triple Americano" it is basically three cups of coffee in one. I get about the same kick from a triple americano as I did when I took the two pills. So, if you can handle the Triple Americano, then go get HydroxyCut. Yes, HC is expensive, but now you don't have to buy a coffee everyday so it works out.
I refuse to weigh myself cause i have pissed so much today that I know I have lost weight, but its only urine. I am going to judge my results by comparing photographs. I will check back in a week and let you guys know.
Terry
+I began using Hydroxycut instant drink packets almost two weeks ago. I have already lost 10lbs. I am 5'8 and weigh 284. I have a lot of weight to loose. I also purchased a stationary bike at home and began using that every morning... but I don't believe the bike alone has sparked such a decrease in weight so quickly. The instant drink mix also curves my appetite. I drink three times a day 30 minutes before I eat. I cut out junk food as well. Hopefully I can continue my weight loss journey. Only thing Hydroxycut can be a bit pricey. Good luck to all who try it.
posted Apr 1st, 2009 3:10 pmamber
i just started this a few days ago i feed very energized but i dont know how much i should exersise and how strick should my diet be any suggestions??
posted Apr 1st, 2009 11:51 amRon Cleaver
-They insist you reduce your calories and exerciese. In that case, YOU DON'T NEED THE DAMN PILL, you morons!
posted Apr 1st, 2009 10:55 amRob
+I have been using hydroxycut for 8 days now and I can definitely tell that it works. I am 5' 11" 205 with about 11% body fat and just want to get some more definition before beach season. Before in the spring I would just run every day and stop eating pizza. This year I got sort of a late start, so decided to buy some of this stuff to help me out. After just the 8 days I can already see a difference looking in the mirror. My energy level is great even though I am eating less, and more lean foods. I have never really tried any other weight loss supplements, but I am behind hydroxycut 100%.
posted Mar 31st, 2009 5:21 pmAlso, I think that people may feel jittery because 2 pills might be a lot for someone who weighs 135 lbs.
Darlene B
It makes me all juttery to ,and i dont like that feeling that way . Will it go away after a while?
posted Mar 31st, 2009 8:55 ammelissa
Is it possible to get a placebo instead of the real product? I hear it makes you jittery or keeps you awake and is supposed to curb appetitie, but none of those things are happening to me. I also have not lost any weight yet (used it for one week) I know the bottle says to use it for 8 weeks, but some say they lost weight in one week. I am 5'8 and right now weigh like 135. Just wondering if I should be more patient.
posted Mar 29th, 2009 8:29 pmmehdi
I have used Hydroxycut Hardcore on and off for the past 8 months or so. It works great- I lost alot of stubborn fat. Neg- leaves me jittery and anxious sometimes. Also affect my sleep pattern. I think I will try the caffeine free version.
posted Mar 28th, 2009 11:19 pmWWgirl
I decided to use Hydroxycut Caffeine free because my 20 year HS reunion is in 7 months. So far, little difference. I do notice I am not as hungry, but I don't know if it's the pills or all the wate I'm drinking. I've read the mixed reviews and was hoping I could be one of the thumbs up. The ones who commented thumbs up, did they REALLY work? Would you suggest taking the regular one?
posted Mar 28th, 2009 9:17 pmKuro Sakamoto
I have a question.
posted Mar 27th, 2009 10:35 pmWhat if you are anorexic, will the hydroxycut drink packages work?
It is because I want to eat healthy again, but worried about weight (not start eating again atleast until april 4--a special day).
Without eating, I lose 2 pounds a day.
But with this product, will it speed up?
I want to be 100 pounds again.
(128 pounds, about 160 cm)
It's hard, please tell me; the "special" day's coming up in a week, and I want to know if it works soon!
(I hate no energy)
Candy cane
hey I have some quesions for anybody, does it matter if I break the pill in half then take the two because i am not a pill person, so it is kinda hard to swollow it whole like that. I bought HC a couple of days ago and i plan on taking it 2morrow. I just need to know.
posted Mar 26th, 2009 1:50 pmKuyang
+Im 28 male and my Height 5'3
posted Mar 25th, 2009 9:28 pmWeight is 166 lbs and I install my first Hydroxycut Hardcore yesterday and I loss 5lbs by runnning to treadmill 15.5kph for 35min and Back work out. My advise before taking Hydroxycut, 1 week before taking the pill try to take coffee without sugar so your body can easily adopt the pill. I didn't encounter ANY side effects any pain. Well goodluck to all of us. I'll get back to you soon guy's in my updates using this powerfull pill... Hydroxycut HARDCORE!
Rica
Started using it a few days ago and walk 1 mile per day. My goal is to loose 15-20 pounds. The only side effects experienced is more bowel movement, which is good.
posted Mar 22nd, 2009 12:58 amheather
+I am 140 lb's and been on hydroxy max for 3 days and lost 4 lb's I personaly like hydroxy max. I would recomend it to anyone.
posted Mar 21st, 2009 7:56 pmJessicaa
-i used hydroxycut on and off since last year, and honestly its a joke. Its not helped me what so ever and i work my ass off every day.
posted Mar 20th, 2009 10:33 pmKyarelis
+I've been taking it for a week now. The first night I did feel side effects. I couldn't sleep because I felt so hot. I woke up many times to get some water. But that was only the first night. Now I love it. I feel with more energy. I think I am loosing weight since I can fit in my jeans again.
posted Mar 20th, 2009 5:54 pmAlicia
-I have been taking hydroxycut max for women for about a month now, they make you feel jittery, give you headaches and I feel bloated all the time since taking them. My clothes fit loose before taking this now everthing I wear fits tighter. I have not lost any weight while on them and I go to the gym at least 3 times a week and that doesn't even help. I do not recommend these.
posted Mar 20th, 2009 9:49 am