Curvelle Review

Curvelle Product PictureCurvelle claims to be a natural weight loss solution and is marketed specifically toward women. You can tell because they feature a woman on the bottle–or at least a squiggly pink, curvy thing. From the looks of it, we’ll be dealing with a product heavy on the herbal supplements, with a bit of stimulation thrown in there as well.

Curvelle is distributed and marketed by a company called iSatori. From the looks of their website, they appear to be marketing toward the bodybuilding community. With an intro image like this, you’re left with little doubt about that. Curvelle appears to be a break away from most of their products in how it is marketed.

Curvelle Ingredients Under Review

I am impressed with iSatori’s website. It’s professionally done, and the product information is easy to find. I easily found where they list the ingredients found in Curvelle:

Cinnulin PF is an extract of cinnamon (yes, the same cinnamon you sprinkle on toast). iSatori states:

[cinnamon] has been shown in recent studies to have positive effects on blood sugar, fats, and cholesterol.

But they fail to mention the “recent studies” in any type of citation. I did a bit of digging (which admittedly, they could have done) and found the study I think they were mentioning. The abstract states that the study was:

to determine whether cinnamon improves blood glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes.1

You can read the entire study here. Cassia, not true cinnamon, was used in the study. Cassia is used in traditional Chinese medicine, considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs. Also, the dosage amounts in the study were 1, 3 and 6 grams per day (along with a control group receiving 1, 3, and 6 grams of a placebo — wheat flour). I called iSatori to ask them how much cinnamon is included in Curvelle, but unfortunately all I got was a message machine (listen to the audio of my call to iSatori about Curvelle). They said (each time I called) that they were experiencing higher than normal call volumes. I left my name and number with them but haven’t yet heard back. While it may be a moot point about the Cinnulin PF (because the research points to a “cousin” of cinnamon, not true cinnamon), seeing a lower-than-effective dosage would have been a nail in the coffin in regards to Cinnulin’s inclusion in Curvelle.

It becomes a bit clearer as to iSatori’s not wanting to actually cite the study they use to support the inclusion of Cinnulin PF in Curvelle — Cinnulin PF wasn’t used. And while I mentioned earlier I was glad that their website made finding the ingredients so easy, I’m mad that they make finding the amounts of those ingredients so unbelievably hard.

Green Tea

Green Tea can be found in virtually every diet pill available on the market today. The fact that it’s found in Curvelle doesn’t surprise me one bit. You can read my review of Green Tea if you’d like. The gist of it is that green tea has been shown in research to promote an increase in our resting metabolic rate, among other things.

Razberi K™

Curvelle contains a ketone unique to raspberries. From the research I’ve done, it appears that the manufacturer of Razberi K is FHG (FHG stands for “For His Glory” and “is representative of our desire to operate a business that would honor God while serving others2) Corporation, DBA Integrity. They were established in 1999.

It appears that iSatori’s ingredients text about Razberi was mainly taken (plagarized? words were changed sometimes) from Integrity’s own information on Razberi-K. I found it mildly ironic (and slightly sad) that a site with the domain integritynut.com was plagiarized.

At any rate, back to Razberi-K. A study is repeatedly cited here (and citations are a good thing!):

In a recent study by Morimoto et al (2005), raspberry ketone was fed at various dosages to growing mice for 10 weeks. Mice fed a high-fat diet (to induce obesity) plus one or two percent raspberry ketone (~ 10,000 mg per kg bodyweight) gained less bodyfat than control animals. Raspberry ketone also decreased the weights of the liver and visceral adipose tissues (epididymal, retroperitoneal, mesenteric)—i.e., fat around the organs.

The emphases are mine. Reading from the actual study (vs. from the Curvelle information, which is where I got the quote above), we learn a bit more (read the entire study):

  1. This study was done to determine the anti-obesity effects of raspberry ketones. Being a few pounds overweight and being obese are very different, so consider that in your own evaluation.
  2. The amount of raspberry ketones was 1 percent of total food intake. This means that a 2,000 calorie diet would have to include 20 calories of raspberry ketones. How much Razberi-K is included in Curvelle? We don’t know because they don’t tell us.

Also, let’s not forget that this study was done on mice–not humans. There has not been any research regarding the anti-obesity effects of raspberty ketones on humans. It sounds like a great ingredient to include in a diet pill geared toward women. Raspberries conjure up some healthy and quaint images. Unfortunately, this is probably nothing more than eye candy.

So far, the only ingredient that will have anything to do with your losing weight while supplementing with Curvelle is the Green Tea — which can be found in, oh, about a bazillion other diet pills as well.

Natural Caffeine

Curvelle also contains natural caffeine. In other words, another stimulant. You can read my review of caffeine’s weight loss efficacy if you’d like. It is effective, though it may give you jitters.

Elderberry Extract

You have to love their second sentence when describing elderberry:

It’s been honored for centuries in folk tradition because of its numerous health benefits. Renowned for its overall influence on wellbeing, it has been used in teas, gargles, ointments, lotions, and homeopathic remedies.

I love when companies try and leverage history as some sort of guide for the efficacy of an ingredient. Doctors also used to think that a great way to get rid of a fever was to “bleed” a patient. Smart men and women believed the earth was flat and that a ship could sail off its edge…and since when has inclusion in “folk tradition” meant an ingredient could do anything for weight loss?

Curvelle’s ingredients page cite another study supporting Elderberry (specifically an anthocyanin known as cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G))…but they don’t actually give a reference to the study. I’m starting to think we might have another Cinnulin moment again…

I’m not positive that this is the study3, but it sounds familiar to what Curvelle mentioned. It looks like the mice that were subjects in the study were type 2 diabetic mice — a relevant detail. It’s also important to note that the study’s focus was to demonstrate that C3G “ameliorates hyperglycemia and insulin sensitivity…” We’re talking here much more about preventing type 2 diabetes and hyperglycemia than we are about losing weight.

For the moment though, I can’t take issue with Elderberry. I don’t know for certain that the study I found is the same one Curvelle’s markters also used to persuade would-be buyers. I don know that we still don’t know how much Elderberry is in there so, if we were to find some solid research supporting Curvelle’s claims, we’d be hard pressed still to know if we had something worth considering.

Curvelle’s Testimonials

Jen and Curvelle have a book togetherThe very first testimonial is listed as being from Jen Hendershott, Fitness International and 2005 Fitness Olympia Champion (her own site says she won in 2006–my favorite shot of Jen at the 2006 Olympia). Apparently Jen and iSatori have this whole book thing going on together. You can buy the book for twenty bucks from iSatori. I don’t know about you, but this kind of financial relationship kills the whole testimonial idea. Jen can’t be making money and give an unbiased testimonial simultaneously (and I stand corrected about Curvelle maybe not being geared toward bodybuilders, as Jen certainly is one).

The next testimonial is from Heather Bear. iSatori provided her email address on the Curvelle Testimonials section, so I emailed her:

Hi Heather,
I’m doing some research into the efficacy of iSatori’s Curvelle and noticed that you were cited on their website:

“I LOVE CURVELLE. I have not had low blood sugar when using it, no headaches, and I’ve had lots of energy. I have been dieting for just one week and have lost seven pounds because I’m not ‘cheating’ because I don’t want to.”

—Heather Bear, Age 29
bearclaw(at)seidata(dot)com
www.Heather-Bear.com”

I find it amazing that you were able to lose seven pounds in just one week. Was this due to the diet you were on, or to Curvelle, or both? From what you said above, am I understanding correctly that Curvelle helped you not to “cheat”?

Thanks for any insight you can give. Love the website by the way!

Cal

I haven’t heard back from her yet. Maybe she’s doing one of her weight loss camps and has limited access to email. At any rate it should be noted that she has been training with Ms. Hendershott from above for four years. So her credibility as an unbiased testimonial is immediately placed into question (despite providing her email address). I’ll update if she ever responds.

UPDATE: Heather responded to my email today with the following response:

Hello,

I believe the 7 pounds was a combination of not cheating on my diet and cardio. Curvelle does help w/ my sweet tooth craving I have. Let me know if I can answer anything else.

Thanks,

Heather

Phat Camp Coordinator

For MORE info about Phat Camp http://www.getphatwithjen.com/2007/faq.htm

www.Heather-Bear.com

Heather[nospam]getphatwithjen.com

Check out www.getphatonline.com for your new YOU!!!!

I stand by my original statement though. If she’s heavily affiliated with Hendershott then her testimonial doesn’t fly. Oh, and if you have the discipline to stick to a bodybuilding diet and intense cardio routine then you probably don’t need Curvelle.

The other two testimonials are from Shannon Erklenz and KNH (via email…). There isn’t any contact information for these two, so the legitimacy of their testimonials is in question. This is the reason I don’t like testimonials at all. I would much rather see a company put out the research that justifies their product’s ingredients and let consumers educate themselves about the product’s efficacy. It’s far too easy to simply throw some testimonials together and make them look legitimate.

Curvelle Overall Conclusion

I have to say that I’m certainly less than impressed. The study they cited to support Cinnulin didn’t actually use Cinnulin. They use two stimulants: green tea and “natural” caffeine. Cheaper alternatives are available if you’re just looking for a stimulant to boost your metabolism. And if you don’t mind the jitters. The fact that it looks like they plagiarized the Razberi-K manufacturer’s website is disturbing. Support for Razberi-K suggests that you would have to supplement with an inordinate amount of raspberry ketones to see the same effects that were seen in the mice. Curvelle’s first two testimonials are obviously displaying conflicts of interest, and the next two aren’t verifiable at all. I don’t like how I’ve called Curvelle multiple times and am always told that “due to high call volumes” they can’t take my call. Does that mean they also won’t be able to process a refund if there’s a problem with an order? Finally, even if all of these studies supported the inclusion of these ingredients into a diet pill, iSatori won’t tell us how much of each ingredient is in Curvelle. This allows me to make only one conclusion: there isn’t enough.

As it stands now, Curvelle doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. I would begin looking elsewhere.

  1. Diabetes Care. 2003 Dec;26(12):3215-8. [↩]
  2. http://www.integritynut.com/about-us/history [↩]
  3. Biochem Pharmacol. 2007 Dec 3;74(11):1619-27. Epub 2007 Aug 10. [↩]

Try Curvelle

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