Sinetrol is mainly made up of orange and grapefruit extract. It has been approved by the South Korean food authorities in making the health claim of “help reduce body fat” among the overweight population.
The trial, funded by Fytexia’s exclusive South Korean business partner, pharmaceutical company RP Bio, was independently conducted by researchers from Gachon University and Sungkyunkwan University.
This is also the first time that the anti-obesity effects of Sinetrol was studied in the Asian population. The findings were recently published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.
The trial recruited subjects with BMI higher than 25.kg/m2 and lower than 30kg/m2. A total of 100 were recruited and 86 completed the trial.
Randomised into two groups, the subjects took either two tablets of Sinetrol or two placebo tablets once per day before taking a meal for 12 weeks.
Their bodyweight, body fat percentage, body mass index (BMI), body fat mass, waist circumference etc were measured during the 6th and the last week of the trial.
While there were several improvements seen in the treatment group, only some were statistically significant.
What’s significant
Statistically significant improvements were seen in the reduction of body weight, body fat mass and BMI by the end of the trial.
For instance, the body weight of the subjects decreased by 1.81% in the treatment group, higher than the 0.25% reduction in the placebo group. This was a statistically significant difference in that the P value was less than 0.05 at 0.002.
The BMI of the treatment group dropped by 2.32%, also higher than the 0.65% seen in the placebo group. This was also a statistically significant difference between the two groups, where the P value was 0.002.
The difference in body fat mass between the two groups also reached a statistically significant figure by the end of the study at 0.03.
Not stats significant
At the same time, while Sinetrol was shown to reduce waist circumference and body fat percentage, these changes were not statistically significant when comparing between the two groups.
Such findings differed from a previous clinical study conducted in 2014 by Dallas et al, where body fat percentage, waist circumference, and hip circumferences were significantly different between the treatment and placebo group.
Referring to this latest study, the researchers added: “In this study, a 12-week supplementation of Sinetrol displayed a reducing trend for body weight, body fat mass, and BMI, suggesting a plausible role of Sinetrol in obesity reduction without any adverse effects.”
Mechanisms
According to Fytexia, the ingredient works by promoting lipolysis – a process which destocks fats accumulated as triglycerides within the white adipose cells.
It also promotes the uncoupling of energy production within adipose tissue, which in turn dissipates released fats as heat.
Source: Journal of Medicinal Food
Efficacy and Safety of Sinetrol-XPur on Weight and Body Fat Reduction in Overweight or Obese Adults: A 12-Week, Randomized, Double-Blind, Parallel, Placebo-Controlled Trial
DOI: 10.1089/jmf.2019.4649
Authors: Park and et al