Efficacy of Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medical Device Products as a Tool in Clinical Weight Management

William Michael Froese, Mark Elliott Ludlow

Business and Technology Division, College of Lake County, Grayslake, USA.
Consulting Engineer, Astoria, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/fns.2014.517176                

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a significant public health challenge. Its prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate globally. Numerous slimming products crowd the market, with each offering a proprietary formulation with statements of alleged efficacy. Within the EU, one such class is Medical Device, featuring a range of marine- and vegetal-based fibers as the functional ingredient. Methods: An analysis was performed to investigate and compare the lipid binding performance of three medical devices consisting of: 1) a polyglucosamine; 2) a vegetal opuntia extract; and 3) a vegetal opuntia extract with vitamins using an industry-standard, validated test method. 0.5 gr of material from each product was studied. Results: The polyglucosamine exhibited a lipid binding capacity (691.7 g/g) more than 20 times the vegetal opuntia extracts. A significantly higher standard deviation (±12.1) was reported for the polyglucosamine medical device vs. the vegetal opuntia extracts (±1.3 - 4.8). However, the standard deviation reported for the former is approximately 1.7% of the mean value obtained from double determination, significantly smaller than that 2.5% - 15% observed for the extracts. Conclusions: Analysis of lipid binding indicated the polyglucosamine exhibited a substantially higher capacity than the vegetal opuntia samples. Further studies are needed to validate these in vitro results.

Keywords

Obesity, Weight Management, Lipid Binding, Chitosan, Medical Device

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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