The quest for effective weight loss solutions has led to various trends, including the use of stomach tapes and wraps. These products are often marketed as a way to reduce abdominal fat and achieve a slimmer waistline. However, it's essential to examine the scientific evidence and potential risks associated with these methods.
Understanding Stomach Tapes and Wraps
Stomach tapes and wraps are adhesive products applied to the abdominal area, often with the intention of promoting weight loss through a transdermal process. These products are advertised as "slim" or "slimming" patches and claim to deliver ingredients through the skin to help break down fat cells, boost metabolism, and block the absorption of sugar and starch.
Ingredients in Weight Loss Patches
Weight loss patches contain different ingredients that manufacturers claim can assist people in losing weight. Some common ingredients include:
- Açai Berry: Açai is a fruit found on the Amazon palm tree. It has grown in interest for use as a nutritional supplement because of its numerous advertised health benefits. A small study found that consuming acai pulp helped reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, which are both associated with weight gain and obesity. However, limited research has examined the effects of acai in weight loss patches.
- Green Coffee Bean Extract: Green coffee bean extract is another ingredient found in some weight loss patches. A small study found that people living with obesity reduced their body fat using the supplement, but the study did not involve a patch.
- Garcinia Cambogia: Garcinia cambogia is a popular ingredient in weight loss patches. A research review found that garcinia cambogia supplementation helped decrease body fat, composition, and weight. However, garcinia cambogia may pose harsh side effects, including liver toxicity, inflammation, and fibrosis.
Other ingredients that may be included in weight loss patches are types of mint, including Japanese mint, green tea, ephedra, bitter orange, and flaxseed oil.
The Claimed Mechanism of Action
The patches supposedly work by releasing active ingredients from an embedded delivery system onto the skin’s surface. Then, the skin must absorb the particles of the active ingredient to allow them to enter the person’s bloodstream. Nicotine patches are an example of medication delivery via a patch.
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If the ingredients can pass through the skin barrier and enter the bloodstream, the manufacturers must determine whether the amount in the bloodstream is safe and effective for its intended purpose.
Scientific Evidence and Efficacy
Researchers have not studied the efficacy and safety of weight loss patches. Limited research supports their efficacy. Even with oral intake, the research is lacking, but the transdermal route is even less understood.
A 2024 animal study found that a microneedle patch infused with dopamine particles decreased the weight of obese mice by 19% in combination with photothermal therapy. However, further studies on humans are necessary to confirm whether microneedle patches aid weight loss.
Currently, no evidence suggests that acai berries help with weight loss. There is little evidence that green coffee beans or green coffee extract can significantly affect weight loss. Studies on the benefits and risks of Japanese mint on weight loss are lacking. The evidence behind the claims that bitter orange extract may reduce a person’s appetite and help their body burn more calories and break down fat more efficiently is lacking.
Regulatory Status and Safety Concerns
The FDA has not approved weight loss patches because no evidence of their effectiveness and safety is available. As the FDA does not control these products, it does not regulate the quantity or quality of the active ingredients in each patch. It is impossible to claim that ingredients will have the same results in the form of a patch as when a person ingests them.
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The side effects of weight loss patches are not fully understood. Different patches contain different ingredients, so side effects will vary. Some people report side effects when using bitter orange, including chest pain, anxiety, headaches, muscle and bone pain, rapid heartbeat, and high blood pressure.
Alternative Approaches to Weight Loss
The most effective way to lose weight is by making lifestyle changes. These can help people reach realistic weight loss goals in small incremental steps. Doctors recommend following a low calorie diet to aid weight loss. Combining a low calorie diet with an exercise regimen can promote weight loss that may result in lower abdominal fat, which determines cardiovascular health.
The Role of Exercise and Diet
To complement exercise, plaster body wrap, a clinically used technique involving a composition of green tea, green clay, magnesium sulfate, and calcium, can be used to maximize abdominal fat loss.
One study showed that plaster body wrap in combination with aerobic exercise seems to be effective for abdominal fat reduction. The study lasted 5 weeks, with two sessions performed per week. The IG intervention protocol began with dynamic abdominal massage (5 minutes, with circular movements, to promote blood circulation) with an alcoholic extract of green tea (alcohol at 96%). The plaster bandage was then applied, impregnated with green tea infusion, magnesium sulfate in water, and with more pressure in the center than in the periphery. While using the plaster body wrap, participants performed 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on a cycle ergometer, monitored by Polar heart monitors and a Borg scale.
However, all studies refer to the action of these components on fat when they are ingested but not through topical absorption, and there is a lack of studies on component action in adipose tissue after its application on skin.
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Risks of Plastic Wrap
If you wear plastic wrap around your midsection, you also risk irritating your skin. Skin needs to breathe, and sweat is a way of dealing with heat production, so preventing sweat from evaporating from the skin surface and allowing heat to dissipate can run the risk of rashes, infections, or other skin disturbances.
There’s also a risk of restricting blood flow if the plastic wrap is too tight.
Abdominal Sweatbands
An abdominal sweatband makes you sweat more, so any weight you lose is likely to be water weight, which will come back when you drink water after your workout. In fact, these bands may make it even harder to lose fat, as they make it harder to use your abdominal muscles, limiting the number of calories you burn.
Also, if your sweatband makes you feel overheated, you might actually end up doing less exercise and burning fewer calories. It isn't possible to spot-reduce by losing weight just from your stomach, so these sweatbands won't help you get the coveted six-pack abs.
Some types are heated to help produce even more sweat, but it's better to avoid these due to reports that some people have suffered burns while using them. Remember, sweating more doesn't mean you're losing more weight, just that you're losing fluid and may be more likely to become dehydrated.
Although the sweatbands may cause increased perspiration, they don't allow the sweat to evaporate and cool your body, which could result in dangerously-high body temperature, an electrolyte imbalance, dizziness, weakness, confusion or death.
Having your stomach tightly wrapped may cause your organs to move and may limit the flow of blood to your organs, including the intestines and kidneys, which could cause health problems.
Targeting Visceral Fat
It's impossible to target belly fat when you start a program to slim down, but a reduction in weight will shrink your waistline and, most importantly, help reduce visceral fat, which lies underneath the abdominal wall in organs and in the lining around the intestines.
The most precise way to determine how much visceral fat you have is to get a CT scan or MRI. But there are easier ways to know whether you have a lot of visceral or subcutaneous fat. The first is your body shape. People with a "pear shape," characterized by bigger hips and thighs, tend to have more subcutaneous fat; those with an "apple shape," characterized by a wider waistline, have visceral fat. A tape measure is an even better way of keeping tabs. A waist circumference of more than 35 inches in women and more than 40 in men indicates an unhealthy amount of visceral fat.
Health Risks Associated with Visceral Fat
Cardiovascular health is the number one casualty of visceral fat. Visceral fat has also been linked to colorectal and breast cancer, dementia, diabetes, stroke, compromised lung function, heartburn, sleep difficulties, and migraine headaches. Excessive visceral fat can nearly double one's risk of dying prematurely.
Strategies for Reducing Visceral Fat
There's no special diet to reduce belly fat. Dr. Davis tells patients to be active but not to kill themselves - just 30 minutes to an hour of exercise five days a week, another 8,000 to 10,000 steps daily will make a difference. Getting the right amount of shut-eye helps. Do your best to limit stress.