Ultrisine Hardcore
Pros
- Made by respectable company
- Strong Fat Burner
- Good Ingredients
- 3 Studies Backing It Up
- Limited Feedback Mostly Positive
Cons
- Potential for Side Effects (but what doesn't?)
- Relatively Expensive
- Contains Raspberry Ketones (why?)
A clinical study of Ultrisine Hardcore found that within 90 minutes of taking it, the supplement could burn the same number of calories as a 2 mile run.
- about 300 calories for someone that weighs 200 lbs
- about 225 calories for someone that weights 150 lbs
Basically, multiply your weight in pounds by 0.75 to get a rough per-mile calorie burn. If you want to get technical then your net calories burned are more like 0.63 x weight in lbs because the other number includes your base metabolic rate as well.
What does that mean for real visible weight loss results?
Let’s take our 200 lb person as an example. He/she would burn about 250 extra calories a day if the study is correct.
That 250 calories per day would add up to 3600 calories – or about 1 lb of weight – in just over 14 days.
Two weeks to lose a pound in weight for the price of a month or two gym membership. When you think about Ultrisine Hardcore that way – about all fat burners – it should put it all into perspective.
No matter what’s in them, weight loss pills can only be a small additional help to the lifestyle you lead. Diet and exercise must come first because they are the things that will make a lot of difference in a short amount of time.
Now, with that said, a pound weight loss is still a pound weight loss. Let’s look at Ultrisine Hardcore in more detail.
MHP Ultrisine Hardcore
The product made “Fat burner of the week” in FLEX Magazine very recently, giving Ultrisine that boost of sales and reputation that any popular bodybuilding magazine would.
We’ll try to ignore the fact that MHP, the manufacturers of Ultrisine, probably paid for that marketing, and just accept it as a fact of capitalist life.
And then there’s the 3 clinical studies that have been carried out on the complete formula. MHP are keen to point out that these studies have been undertaken using the complete formula, rather than one ingredient.
That’s because most clinical studies being cited in order to shift product for these companies are single ingredient studies, and not investigations of the products themselves.
It’s true that those single ingredient studies are with an ingredient found in those products, but it’s usually studied at a much higher dose, and so the results shouldn’t really be extrapolated to fit the marketing agenda.
Green coffee extract is a classic example. The studies on green coffee that are currently doing the rounds and being shouted about from rooftops are industry-funded. Thats a source of bias straight away. The weight loss results look pretty incredible but they are exaggerated, and what’s more, they are using doses way higher than what most supplements contain.
We know this, the companies know this…but those words clinical study just carry weight with potential customers.
Ultrisine Hardcore Clinical Study Summaries
The studies on the whole MHP Ultrisine Hardcore formula have apparently revealed the following results:
Study #1
- Boosts metabolism in 30 minutes
- After 90 minutes calories burned equivalent to 2 miles running or 5500 steps walking
- Subjects lost significant body fat in 4 weeks
- Reduces fatigue by 48%
- Doubles Irisin production – irisin has been dubbed the “exercise hormone” and amongst other things helps in the regulation of fat storage and thermogenesis
Study #2
- 8 week study with controlled diet and exercise program
- Subjects lost average of 10.29 lbs bodyweight (40% greater than placebo)
- Weight loss was primarily body fat
- Metabolic rate increase sustained through entire weeks
Study #3
The third study on metabolism is “coming soon” according to MHP
Before I dive into those studies, let’s look at the ingredients in the formula.
Ingredients – Ultrisine Hardcore Formula
The formula is split into 2 proprietary blends:
- Metabolism and Brown Adipose Activating Matrix
- Powerful Energy, Mood and Satiety Boosting Complex
Metabolism and Brown Adipose Activating Matrix [357mg]
- Gynostemma pentaphyllum leaf extract (ActivAMP®)
- Polygonum cuspidatum root extract (50% trans resveratrol)
- Aframomum melegueta seed extract (12.5% 6-paradol)
- Cayenne pepper fruit extract (Capsimax®)
- Raspberry ketone
Powerful Energy, Mood and Satiety Boosting Complex [745.5]
- Caffeine anhydrous [300mg]
- Green Tea leaf extract
- Citrus aurantium extract / bitter orange (Advantra Z® – std. 6% synephrine)
- Mucuna pruriens seed extract (60% L-Dopa)
- Yohimbe bark extract (10% yohimbine)
Those are some sexy looking ingredients, aren’t they? Lots of big latin words that are hard to pronounce must make this product good, right?
I’ll break open a few of those ingredients to give you a better idea of what they are and what they do.
Gynostemma Pentaphyllum
It’s a herb in the adaptogen family. If you’ve read anything about adaptogenic herbs like Ashwagandha and Rhodiola rosea then you know they mean business.
Some of them are more effective for stress, others for anxiety, yet others are useful for activating certain fat loss pathways. That’s what this one can do.
It’s in Ultrisine in a patented form called ActivAMP® – a product of Gencor.
There’s an interesting study on actiponin (gynostemma pentaphyllum) itself where over the course of a 12 week study, obese subjects lost significant body fat and waist circumference.
They did have 450mg per day, which is more than the total dose of the first proprietary blend in Ultrisine Hardcore, but we can’t rule out the potential for synergy with the other ingredients at smaller doses.
Polygonum Cuspidatum
This one is also known as Japanese Knotweed, one of the most invasive plant species on the planet. When japanese knotweed takes hold, the site it invades is deemed “contaminated land” in some countries!
I’m just saying – it ain’t the Holy Grail
Anyway, it contains trans resveratrol, the more potent isomer of resveratrol, the polyphenolic compound that gives red wine its cardio-protective, anti-cancer properties, and has given rise to the “French Paradox” (basically, french people eat lots of saturated fat but have good hearts and cardiovascular systems on average. Scientists reckon it’s the wine).
So trans resveratrol can do all that heart health and anti-cancer stuff, so what? Well, more recent studies have found that it can light up our brown adipocytes, aka brown adipose tissue, aka BAT, aka brown fat.
Brown fat is a whole article on its own, but here’s the gist of it: brown fat comes from the same stem cells as muscle tissue. It’s high mitochondrial concentration makes it look brown.
We don’t have much left as adults (babies have a higher proportion to help them heat up because they can’t shiver. Bless!) but what we do have still works as originally intended and can use white fat as fuel to burn to generate heat.
It’s why cold therapy is meant to increase fat burning, and the reason BAT triggering ingredients are all the rage in fat burners now.
So, trans resveratrol can activate BAT and potentially help us lose weight, and that’s why it’s in Ultrisine Hardcore.
Getting sick of these fancy names yet?
Aframomum Melegueta
Grains of paradise – that’s the other name. It’s in the same family as ginger, and in old West African folk medicine it’s been used for its warming effects…because it’s another BAT activator.
There are early signs that it can augment other fat burning efforts, cold-therapy included, but we’re not falling over research papers here. There’s not much to go on, science-wise.
Cayenne Pepper
Otherwise known as Capsaicin, the heat from cayenne pepper seeds has long been known to have some kind of fat burning effect.
It’s becoming more evident that part, or most, of this effect occurs once again via brown adipose tissue activation.
There’s probably an absorption enhancing effect that cayenne brings to the table as well.
Raspberry Ketones
I’m not even sure why we’re still discussing raspberry ketones for fat loss effects in 2018. I’m pretty sure they have been wholly debunked, but if anyone is aware of any game-changing research that says any different, please throw me a link.
The Powerful Energy, Mood and Satiety Boosting Complex is the second and larger of the two proprietary blends in MHP Ultrisine Hardcore.
It contains the usual suspects for the most part, and that’s fine. Caffeine, green tea and synephrine are a solid fat burning stack.
Mucuna Pruriens is included for its L-DOPA content, which is the pre-cursor to some catecholamine neurostransmitters including Dopamine. That might give it mood enhancing, appetite suppressing kind of power but the dose is likely too low for any tangible benefit.
There is also evidence that mucuna pruriens can improve glucose metabolism by reducing spikes in blood sugar. Again though, the doses used in these studies appear to be in the hundreds of milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight. That equates to total doses measured in grams.
Yohimbine
Yohimbine is a powerful stimulant, and fat burning agent. The fat cells it targets are mostly congregated around the lower waist, hips and thighs.
This is likely the closest thing to targeted weight loss that occurs. The areas of fat which have the receptors yohimbine seeks out are often the most stubborn, and usually the last to go when you are losing weight.
This has obviously made yohimbine a popular modern fat burning stimulant. However, much like other potent stimulants that have passed through the supplement industry (I’m talking about you Ephedrine and DMAA), there are some precautions to take.
Side effects can occur with yohimbine as a result of the stimulation. Heart rate might increase, you could get the jitters or feel sick, get a headache etc.
Perhaps the bigger issue is the potential for symptoms of anxiety and potentially even panic attacks.
Yohimbine is even used in anxiety studies to induce panic attacks!
It goes without saying then, that you shouldn’t use it if you have an anxiety or panic disorder. And even if you don’t it can interact negatively with prescription drugs.
However, if you are in good overall health then give it a try, but I would take a half-dose on the first day just to assess your tolerance.
When taken in combination with other stimulants, as is the case with the yohimbine in Ultrisine Hardcore, it is more potent still.
…back to those Clinical Studies on Ultrisine Hardcore
I would like to see the white papers on the clinical trials so that I can see the study designs used.
Often, studies are designed in such a way that positive results are more likely to occur. The studies most easily engineered in this way are those involving ergogenic supplements such as those reported to increase muscle growth.
Fat loss studies are more difficult to manipulate because there isn’t the resistance training program/diet combination to mess around with as there is with muscle supplements.
Therefore, I have little reason to doubt MHP when they say their product here can burn around 250 to 300 calories compared to placebo.
But…
I’ve always said a decent fat-burner should be able to burn 200-300 extra calories per day. I’m fairly sure a lot of them can, especially those containing a mix of potent stimulants like yohimbine and synephrine.
Mostly, the success of a fat burner depends on the person using it, and more importantly how sensitive they are to the ingredients. If you drink 3 cups of coffee a day and expect stimulants to work then you’re dreaming.
If you use no other stimulants (including drinking coffee) for two weeks and then only use the fat burner for the 8 or 12 week cycle, it will have it’s greatest effect. Greater still in combination with a high protein, calorie controlled diet and exercise.
So, 250 calories isn’t all that special in my opinion.
The difference is that MHP have done the studies and have the numbers (assuming they are quoting the studies verbatim), which is a heck of a lot more than most companies manage.
Sure, some fat burners can do the same, perhaps even more, but without the scientific proof in their hands, you just have to take them at their word.
MHP Ultrisine Hardcore – Should You Buy It?
Of course, I’d like to take Ultrisine Hardcore for a longer test cycle. I’m fairly attuned to my body these days and I can tell if I’m cutting another 250 calories a day when I take my measurements, especially over the course of a few months.
The sustained metabolism effect is particularly interesting to me. Most stim-based fat burners wear off a bit over the 8 or 12 weeks because the user builds some tolerance to their effect.
Now, the number of calories burned daily is not a huge amount considering one chocolate bar would wipe it all out, but it is consistent and combined with exercise and diet, it’s still an extra pound of (mostly) fat loss every couple of weeks.
I mentioned cost in the introduction. It’s going to be in the region of $50 per month. If you haven’t got a gym membership already, then that money would definitely be better spent doing that.
On the other hand, if all your ducks are in a row and you’re looking to shift that extra few pounds of stubborn fat, then a 3 month cycle of Ultrisine Hardcore will help.
As long as it’s added value you can make the decision as to whether to spend the money on it.
To wrap it up, I don’t think Ultrisine Hardcore is more potent than similar fat burners with similar ingredients. In fact, I think there are more powerful fat burners out there.
What you have though is a weight loss pill with some clinical-trial oomph behind it. And who knows, that might give you the psychological boost you need to succeed in your goals.
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