I haven't tried this yet, but thought I would share my findings so far.
THE NEW FORMULA:
Bauhinia Purpurea L. (Leaf And Pod) Extract
See old formula below.
Aegeline
USPLabs must have an Ayurvedic medicine specialist on staff because they consistently have added herbs from southeast Asia in their products. The little I could find on this says that the leaf extract works to regulate insulin synthesis and release and to normalize diabetic related oxidative stress and neurodegeneration.
This herb has also been shown to have some impact on histamine production. Histamine has been researched as a anti-obesity agent. Histamine may help reduce appetite.
Norcoclaurine HCl
Also known as higenamine provides focus and is the thermogenic that is being used to replace DMAA (1,3 Dimethylamylamine HCl). This is one of those bronchial dilators that increase lipolysis.
Hemerocallis Fulva (Flower) Heat Concentrated Extract
This is potentially the ingredient growing in your neighbor's yard. Or maybe along the side of the road. The orange day lily aka ditch weed.
According to ergo-log this extract forces the release of fat cells into the bloodstream. Once there, your body will uses them for energy. The fancy name for this process is lipolysis.
Yohimbe (Pausinystalia Johimbe) (Bark) Extract (AlphaShred™)
According to wikipedia "Yohimbine blocks the pre- and post-synaptic alpha-2 adrenoceptors. Blockade of post-synaptic alpha-2 adrenoceptors leads to minor corpora cavernosa smooth muscle relaxation." The blocking of alpha-2 receptors increases lipolysis (fat burning).
The above description makes yohimbe a sexual performance aid. But, the bark of the West African tree Pausinys talia yohimbe is also a potent fat-burner. It increases the amount of fat that gets released from your fat cells.
Caffeine (135mg)
See old formula.
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THE OLD FORMULA:
The USPLabs OxyELITE Pro™ Ingredient Lineup...
Rauwolfia Canescens (Rauwolscine)
This particular compound has been shown to block off & deactivate the Alpha-2 receptor!It's related to yohimbine, a compound which is often included in various fat loss formulas because of its ability to antagonize alpha 2-adrenoceptors, allowing lipolysis itself, while also allowing lipolysis to continue from beta adrenoceptor agonism as well (11,12).
Here's the problem: While antagonizing alpha 2-adrenoceptors is great, yohimbine unfortunately also does the same for alpha 1-adrenoceptors – and this can actually hinder lipolysis (13).
So, on the other hand, while yohimbine helps to improve lipolysis by antagonizing alpha 2-adrenoceptors, it may also prevent lipolysis from occurring by antagonizing alpha 1-adrenoceptors...
Kind of defeats the purpose, huh? It's like robbing Peter to Pay Paul...
The end result is only a mediocre or small effect upon fat loss, or no detectable fat loss at all, which is what has been demonstrated in the literature with yohimbine supplementation (14-17).
Rauwolscine on the other hand, is just as potent at antagonizing alpha 2-adrenoceptors as yohimbine, yet it is 50 times less potent at alpha 1-adrenoceptors (18), making it much more selective and much less likely to reduce lipolysis by inhibiting alpha 1-adrenoceptor activity when compared to yohimbine.
Rauwolscine is clearly the better choice.
Last, beware of those products which contain the hydroxylated derivatives of yohimbine (e.g., 10-OH-yohimbine and 11-OH-yohimbine). They may look different but the truth is that they are no more effective than yohimbine (19).
This is simply a marketing gimmick designed to get the consumer to believe they are getting something truly unique and more effective.
Bauhinia purpurea L (Leaf & Pod [standardized for Bauhiniastatins 1-4])
This particular extract is very exciting because, due to various factors (e.g., stress, dieting, overtraining), many individuals may have impaired conversion of T4 to T3.We all know thyroid hormones play an important role in metabolic rate and an increase in thyroid hormone levels can produce significant increases in energy expenditure.
This is, after all, why bodybuilders and fitness athletes will use synthetic T3 as they know it can help dramatically increase the rate at which they reduce fat mass
In fact, excess thyroid levels have been known to increase metabolic rate by 25-50% in some cases and a person that is hypothyroid can have a decrease in metabolic rate by as much as 40% below normal (20).
Now, we're not saying that we can increase thyroid hormone levels to the same degree that you'd get from taking exogenous thyroid hormone, but imagine if you could get even a fraction of that – the results would speak for themselves!
An extract from the plant Bauhinia purpurea has been shown in healthy adult animal models to increase T4 by approximately 37% compared to controls, while increasing T3 by an amazing 83%! (21)
If this wasn't exciting enough, another study found that Bauhinia purpurea was able to completely restore the decrease in thyroid hormone levels seen when giving healthy adult animal models the drugs, dexamethasone (a potent glucocorticoid) and metformin (an anti-diabetic drug) (22).
Yet another reason that increasing thyroid hormone is so important is because it's known to sensitize or increase the lipolytic effects of adrenergic stimulation (i.e., through compounds such as the geranium and Cirsium oligophyllum extracts, along with caffeine) in fat cells (33).
Due to the results of the studies, the authors concluded that the plant is likely increasing the conversion of peripheral T4 to the more potent T3.
This is like adding a NOS injector to your ten speed!
Bacopa monnieri (Leaf)
This plant has also been shown in an animal model to naturally increase thyroid hormone production. In this case, the plant extract was shown to increase T4 levels by approximately 41% compared to controls (23).In this case, however, since there was no increase in T3 seen, the authors concluded that the plant extract directly stimulates the release of T4 from the thyroid gland, as opposed to Bauhinia purpurea, which increased the conversion of T4 to T3.
By combining the two plant extracts, the goal is to create a situation where your body will release more T4, while at the same time more of this newly released T4 will be converted to the more metabolically active T3.
This is truly the "best of both worlds" scenario & the end result potentially being a substantial increase in energy expenditure and decreased fat.
Cirsium Oligophyllum (Whole Plant Extract)
Our use of this plant is based upon an animal study which had shown that compared to a control group, the extract was able to reduce the gain of bodyweight and fat mass and specifically seemed to target subcutaneous fat mass over that of visceral fat mass with a ratio favoring the reduction of subcutaneous fat mass over that of visceral of nearly 9 fold!(5)Pharmacological studies revealed that the active constituent possesses beta adrenoceptor agonist activity (other beta adrenoceptor agonists include compounds like ephedrine and clenbuterol) and stimulates lipolysis in subcutaneous fat cells.
Yet another similarity that the Cirsium oligophyllum extract shares with beta adrenoceptor agonists is that it works synergistically with caffeine, producing a more powerful lipolytic effect that far exceeds the effect when used by itself (5).
In fact, the potency of caffeine & Cirsium Oligophyllum combined was nearly 10 times greater than Cirsium Oligophyllum by itself.
As a final note, Uncoupling Protein-1 expression was up-regulated 1.3 fold, relative to controls in those animals receiving Cirsium Oligophyllum topically; more on this later (5).
Caffeine
Caffeine is often noted for its ability to increase resting energy expenditure, while also increasing lipolysis and lipid oxidation (6-8)...In addition, it is noted for its ability to increase feelings of energy, alertness, concentration and euphoric effects (9,10).
Everyone throws caffeine in their formula...but few know why...we have a specific purpose on why we included it...
...Aside from the benefits that caffeine alone imparts, it can also provide synergistic effects when combined with other ingredients in OxyELITE Pro™...
In particular, the caffeine we have included may increase the effectiveness of the other fat loss agents included in the formula, including our Geranium extract as well as Cirsium oligophyllum.
...In fact, in the study performed with Cirsium oligophyllum, they found exactly that!
Caffeine was shown to provide a substantial increase in the effectiveness of the extract at promoting lipolysis in subcutaneous fat cells (5)...
Is Your Fat Burner Targeting The Wrong Fat?
Notice that we said subcutaneous fat cells as this is where many companies fail to make a distinction when creating fat loss products...Many compounds can produce a decrease in fat mass when it comes to visceral fat (i.e., the fat that surrounds your organs), but when it comes to improving how you look, subcutaneous fat is what you're concerned with as this is the fat that is just below your skin and smothers up your muscles...
How Much Subcutaneous Fat You Have Means The Difference Between Looking Shredded Or Looking Like You Own Stock In A Donut House.
As you can see in the picture above, subcutaneous fat is what covers up your abs. The crappy high-stim fat burners these days target visceral fat, not subcutaneous fat.
Targeting visceral fat is important for overall health - and the compounds in OxyELITE Pro™ can target visceral fat too - but as you can see, targeting visceral fat alone isn't going to do much for that layer of fat surrounding your muscles...
You need to get rid of excess subcutaneous fat to make a lean physique a reality.
Geranium [Stems] (extracted for 1,3-Dimethylamylamine)
Geranium has been used for centuries as a food additive and part of certain cultures regular diets. One constitute of geranium is this compound - a sympathomimetic, aliphatic amine with indirect (i.e., by increasing norepinephrine levels) and/or direct activity at alpha and beta-adrenoceptors (1-3).This compound's influence upon the sympathetic nervous system (SAS) and norepinephrine levels is something very important to consider as the SAS and norepinephrine are considered to play important roles when it comes to influencing metabolic rate and especially the rate at which we burn calories while at rest (4).
What does this all of this mean? It means this compound can potentially help provide the stimulation needed for better workouts (i.e., a feeling of more energy and focus), while also directly stimulating the use of fat as fuel in your body.
