Relacore is a herbal diet pill marketed by Carter Reed Company - as ridiculous as it sounds, Relacore is claimed as "America's #1 Belly Fat Pill". The premise behind this "Belly Fat Pill" and its marketing campaign is that stress and cortisol is the invariable cause of body fat, and that excessive belly fat is the result of stress. However, these are unsubstantiated claims.
There is abundant scientific evidence linking stress with obesity, and some studies linking adbominal fat to stress (more on that later). In the Relacore ad campaign, it states:
"According to government researchers, the link between stress, tension, and excess belly fat is clear. High levels of cortisol — a nasty little stress hormone — can cause pound after pound of excess body fat to accumulate around your waist and tummy, a health-threatening, figure-destroying condition affecting an estimated 47 million Americans... mostly women."
Perhaps they should cite their references to the "government researchers". I suppose the mentions of "government researchers" lends "credibility" to their product in the minds of average consumers.
While it's true that stress and cortisol can lead to excess body fat and obesity - as we'll see in a bit - whatever happened to any mention of sedentary, inactive lifestyles, over eating, unhealthy eating, lack of exercises, as more primary causes of american obesity? Placing the blame of our weight problems on the stress hormone cortisol is just additional way of scapegoating the fundamental issues of obesity on something else - taking our focus away from what really matters: making small, positive changes towards an active life style, choosing to eat healthy, and choosing to live healthy.
Does Relacore Really Work?
Relacore is marketed as the "#1 Belly Fat Pill" with unsubstantiated statements such as these:
"Relacore® is the most significant advancement in belly fat control in more than a decade."
and,
"Simply stated, a bulging midsection is not your fault.. But now you can beat stress-induced belly fat with Relacore."
Let it be known this day and forth that "YOU CAN'T SPOT REDUCE!" Okay, that's actually a known fact for as long as I can remember, but yet, marketers prey on consumers' desire for a quick fix to long term problems. They target the misinformed, ill-informed who will no doubt get pulled into their marketing hype. Despite the unsubstantiated claims, there may actually be some merit to using Relacore.
To find out whether relacore really works, we need to look at its ingredients. Before we do that, we need a better understanding of the link between stress and weight gain. If you've used relacore, share your review here.
Stress & Obesity - The Link Between Relacore Diet Pill, Cortisol, and Body Fat
It is well documented in various studies that stress can lead to metabolic complications where "chronic stress is associated to derangement of metabolic homeostasis that contributes to the clinical presentation of visceral obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome... Notably, indices of stress in the modern western societies correlate with the increasing incidence of both obesity and the metabolic syndrome which have reached epidemic proportions over the past decades."1
Stress is a state of disharmony caused by internal or external forces that threatens your state of homeostasis. This stress is counteracted by a series of physiological and behavioral responses that aim to re-establish homeostasis within your body. "The adaptive stress response depends upon an elaborate neuroendocrine, cellular, and molecular infrastructure, the stress system. Crucial functions of the stress system response are mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the central and peripheral components of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The integrity of the HPA axis and the ANS and their precise interactions with other CNS components are essential for a successful response to the various stressors."2 Chronic stress is a prolonged threat to homeostasis, and can lead to the manifestation of various diseases and syndromes including obesity, insulin resistance, and hypertension.
A study conducted at the Endocrinology & Metabolism Unit of Evgenidion Hospital in Greece states that "The incidence of both obesity and the metabolic syndrome in modern Western societies has taken epidemic proportions over the past decades and often correlates with indices of stress in the affected populations. Stress, primarily through hyperactivation of the HPA axis, appears to contribute to the accumulation of fat tissue, and vice versa, obesity itself seems to constitute a chronic stressful state and may cause HPA axis dysfunction."2
Another study from University of California (dept. of psychiatry) performed research on psychological stress and eating patterns based on a model of "reward based stress eating." Their study focused on the role of cortisol on motivating intake of caloric dense foods. They stated that stress and food can stimulate release of opiod in the body (a chemical substance with morphine like action ie. pain relief), which appears to be a powerful defense mechanism protecting the individual from detrimental effects of stress.
When an individual faces stress, opiod is released in the body, which is a defense mechanism that decrease activity of the HPA axis, thus weakening the stress response. And repeated stimulation of this "reward based stress eating" can lead to neurobiological adaptations that promote the compulsive nature of overeating. Hence it is clear that cortisol can lead to this type of behavioral patterns. 3
As is evident in these studies, stress is directly related to the accumulation of fat tissue and causes obesity. What's even more alarming is that obesity itself is a source of stress leaving the individual in a chronic stressed state because of their obesity, which leads to more stress, more fat accumulation, and becomes a vicious cycle. So how do you deal with it? By reducing stress, which is why Relacore has its benefits.
Now that we have a better understanding of stress, cortisol, and body fat accumulation, we can see why there is some merit to the "#1 Belly Fat pill" Relacore. Although its claims of getting rid of belly fat is false - as we already stated earlier that you cannot spot reduce - it's mechanism of reducing stress (cortisol) can be a contributing factor towards desired weight loss. As we already discussed, stress is directly linked to fat accumulation and can lead to overeating patterns. But if we were to reduce the level of stress (internal or external) by some amount, it would follow that we would be at less risk of unwanted weight gain, and perhaps even experience some weight loss.
Using Relacore can help reduce the overall stress levels and improve the feeling of well being. Various users of Relacore have reported feeling less stressed, and noticing an improvement in their mood. This will probably not produce any direct benefit to weight loss; however, it will convey benefits towards an overall plan for weight loss.
Along with Relacore, you must ensure to have a good diet program that will help you lose weight and burn fat. Your diet must allow you to continue to lose weight or maintain your weight without re-gaining what you lost after you've finished using Relacore diet pills.
