In today’s high-tech era when medicine and science have accomplished so much, many drugs are promoted claiming to be the “answer” to the problem of weight loss.

Most of these style themselves as “supplements” and each claims to hold the final answer to helping people lose weight quickly and in the easiest way possible.

But do these weight loss supplements work?

In reality, many folk have had some bad experiences using some of supplements, which has led to a number of widely circulated horror stories cropping up about them. As such, supplements are sometimes widely regarded as being nothing more than scams and are viewed with much skepticism.

Yet, for every horror story there is an equal number of amazing success stories. Some people have told that they experienced excellent weight loss by using particular supplements; so people wonder if there is more to these supplements than meets the eye.

For an understanding of what supplements do, it is important that you learn how they work. When it comes down to it, most supplements just do one or more of the following:

Control appetite

Increase rate of metabolism

Assist the digestive system

You will no doubt realise that each of these three has the potential to aid weight loss.

Most important, appetite control plays a vital part in avoiding overeating or binge eating, as it is in its most extreme. Many people who are overweight generally have problems controlling the amount that they eat, and so appetite control is invaluable for preventing that.

Similarly, people with a low metabolic rate always risk gaining weight, and by giving them a quick boost to their metabolism rate, they will be more able to work off surplus energy that their body has, instead of storing it as fat.

Finally, supporting the digestive system will allow it to metabolize food more efficiently, so you are less likely to be processing food while you sleep, which would make it more likely to be stored as fat.

So supplements that do all or any of the three above tasks genuinely have the potential to help weight loss. But of course the real question is: Do they work as claimed.

When it comes to that, there is no easy answer. Certainly, many supplements can help, but if their claims are more outlandish than realistic, then they probably will not to work as you hope they will. Some could even have very adverse, and even dangerous effects.

When used to aid weight loss, supplements can be a valuable tool, but at the end of the day if they are not supported by other weight loss measures, you probably will not have the success you want, or they will work initially, but then the weight can come back.

In conclusion: While supplements can be a help, but they cannot be a “miracle weight loss” cure.