Dr. Oz heaped glowing praise onto a new weight loss supplement known as Meratrim in 2014. Reviews since then have been mixed.
Dr. Oz and Meratrim
Dr. Oz opened his show in February 2014 discussing Meratrim, a “fruit and flower slimming formula” which he said was a breakthrough weight loss supplement.
The segment was reminiscent of his 2012 garcinia cambogia episode, where Dr. Oz lauded that product as a “holy grail” of weight loss. Days after his praise for that supplement, online vendors came out of the woodwork to make a quick buck off of the product, and many can still be seen littering the online landscape.
Meratrim is a product of InterHealth, and the website meratrim.com forwards to interhealthusa.com.
Because Meratrim is a trademarked blend, online marketers will have to get creative in order to cash in – because they can’t legally use the Meratrim name without going through InterHealth.
The ingredients of Meratrim include Sphaeranthus indicus and Garcinia mangostana. Look for some quick-thinking online marketers to figure out a way to jump on the bandwagon, either by offering a similar product with a similar name, or by offering the two primary ingredients of Meratrim with a similar name. You will also likely see a host of new brands of Meratrim flood the market in the coming weeks.
Garcinia Wars
Meratrim’s website goes out of its way to point out the differences between garcinia cambogia and Meratrim:
Most Garcinia cambogia ingredients are generic and not branded (besides Citrimax®). Unlike Meratrim®, studies on Garcinia cambogia did not show an increase in adiponectin, the key hormone involved in fat metabolism.
Where can I buy Meratrim?
You can get it from Re-Body’s site, trymeratrim.com, or from GNC, Whole Foods, Vitamin World, The Vitamin Shoppe, and Amazon. At GNC you can get Meratrim for about $35-$40 (This is about $5 less than when it first appeared there in early 2014).
Locally, Meratrim is now readily available at drugstores, grocery stores, and supplement stores.
When to take Meratrim
According to InterHealth’s website, the suggested dose is 400mg twice a day, 30 minutes before breakfast and dinner.
Questionable Reviews?
As of this writing, there are 11 reviews for the BioGenetic Labs version of Meratrim on the GNC website. For the first 6 reviewers, however, that was their only review on the site.
Does Meratrim Work?
Although the Dr. Oz episode heaped praise on Meratrim, reviews online appear to fall into the 2.5 to 3 star range. With over 200 reviews at Amazon, it only reaches a 2.5 star mark. Although it has a 4 star rating at GNC, this is only among 11 reviews total.
The overwhelming majority of reviewers have said it did not work, included uncomfortable bowel or gas side effects, or that its effects were limited at best.
History
The search history chart below by Google Trends shows an initial surge in interest in Meratrim, followed by a slow tapering off.
Conclusion
As we update this post in early 2015, it does not appear that Meratrim ever attained the visibility of other popular (and controversial) weight loss supplements such as acai or garcinia cambogia. Lukewarm reviews have not yielded an impressive year for the product.
Your Meratrim Reviews
If you’ve tried (or ordered) Meratrim, please let us hear from you in the comments below.
Updated March 25, 2015
Originally published February 2014