Guarana, Yeba Mate and Damiana (GYD) Review

There is a popular combination of herbs prevalent in many diet pills, Guarana, Yerba Mate, and Damiana (Damiana is often referred to by its name Turnera).  The idea behind the GYD combination is to accelerate and extend the signals of fullness you receive from your stomach.  Does it work?

This study is supportive.

The object behind the study was to determine the combination’s effect on gastric emptying:

 This study had two distinct aims: to determine the effect of a herbal preparation ‘YGD’ containing Yerbe Maté, Guarana and Damiana on gastric emptying; to determine the effect of the same preparation on weight loss over 10 days and 45 days and weight maintenance over 12 months.

The results supported GYD’s claim to fame:

The herb preparation YGD was followed by a prolonged gastric emptying time of 58 ± 15 min compared to 38 ± 7.6 min after placebo (P=0.025).

As far as weight loss and maintenance:

…5.1 ± 0.5 kg after PGD capsules compared to 0.3 ± 0.08 kg after placebo over 45 days. Active treatment with YGD capsules resulted in weight maintenance of the group (73 kg at the beginning and 72.5 kg at the end of 12 months).

For specifics on each of these herbs, wikipedia is a great resource:

My conclusion on this ingredient combination is that it works.  You don’t see it as much as others because it tends to be more expensive than say Green Tea or straight-up caffeine.