Sensa Weight Loss

Everybody is intrigued by a magic-bullet solution, especially in the realm of weight loss. The idea that a food, diet or supplement can help you drop enormous amounts of weight without all that pesky "exercise," "life-style change" and "healthy eating" is all we need to hear to pique our interest. The Sensa Weight Loss System claims to offer just that.

According to their official website, all Sensa requires you to do is sprinkle the product, which resembles salt over your food. That's it. The manufacturers offer two studies to support the efficacy of Sensa, during both 6 month long studies subjects were instructed not to make any changes in their diet or exercise routine. All they had to do was sprinkle the flavorless crystals over all of their food. The average weight loss was 30.5 pounds in the initial study and 27.5 pounds in the second study.

It should be noted here that while these studies are published on the Sensa manufacturer's website, I could not find them in any reputable journals.

The crystals are a very specific type of stimuli called "tastants" which activate the taste receptors and, in the case of Sensa, the smell receptors. The addition of these tastants to your food will make you feel full faster, making you eat less. This result has, in fact, been shown in a number of older studies. One such study can be found here and shows that the inhalation of certain odors can aid in weight loss.

So it appears as if the evidence shows that Sensa works. But just because something helps you lose weight, should you use it? Tapeworms are a great way to shed the pounds while eating whatever you want, but I don't recommend using them.

There are a couple of reasons for my caution when it comes to Sensa.

1) From the Sensa website: "SENSA^® contains Maltodextrin (Derived from Corn from the USA), Tricalcium Phosphate, Silica, Natural and Artificial Flavors. SENSA^® also contains Soy and Milk ingredients. SENSA^® is sodium-free, sugar-free, calorie free, gluten-free, and there are no stimulants, drugs or MSG." Maltodextrin is the particular bone of contention here and the internet is full of claims that it is, or is similar to, MSG. There is no clinical evidence to this claim. Overall, the ingredients to Sensa are not fully disclosed, understandably, but it is essentially a food DIY additive and people trying to help healthy, natural, whole foods would probably want to stay away from it.

2)In most cases, obesity is the result of a lifestyle and in order for weight loss to be maintained the problematic lifestyle needs to change. Sensa does not require any change which means that once you stop using it, you will gain the weight back. To be fair, Sensa does recommend diet change and exercise and even offers menu plans and exercise suggestions. But, when the majority of the propaganda claims that those changes are unnecessary and the suggestions are buried pretty deep in the website, what is the likelihood that they will be followed?


3)The cost. A month supply of Sensa costs $60 so the overall cost would depend on how long you plan on using the product. But for around the same amount, you could get a gym membership and make some lasting changes.


Sensa has responsible amount of clinical and anecdotal evidence which support it's claims but the weight loss would be temporary at best. Call me old fashioned but, I still think it's better to make lasting changes in your diet and exercise routines.