Most people would say losing weight without doing any work seems too good to be true. We’ve all heard the all too-common mantra from health professionals who say that weight loss requires physical activity and healthy eating. It’s also known that getting to a gym and cutting out treats requires an absurd combination of ambition, determination and focus, especially with the upcoming holiday season. Yuck.

Fear no more, says Elite FX, the company which claims to have released the world’s first ever calorie-burning soft drink. “Celsius,” which reportedly boosts metabolism and energy with ingredients including natural botanicals, micronutrients, amino acids and caffeine, hit the shelves in Florida in April 2005, but is now available in stores across the nation.

The company’s website states that, “By replacing a regular soft drink with a bottle of Celsius every day for one year, even with no change in exercise habits, a person could theoretically lose up to 17 pounds.”

“It’s the first drink that has been proven to boost your metabolism naturally so you burn more calories than you consume, creating “net-negative” calories,” said Steven Haley, president of Elite FX, in a written statement. The beverage’s calorie-burning power, he added, is derived from a unique blend of natural ingredients.

“This is stuff you’ve heard of, like green tea, ginger and B-vitamins, but the magic is in the mix,” Haley said. “It’s our secret formula that makes the product both taste great and work.”

Whether “Celsius” actually works well enough to warrant Haley’s statements and the $1.99 retail price for a 12 ounce bottle, depends on who you talk to. According to the findings of an Elite FX-led study released at the International Society of Sports Nutrition Conference in New Orleans in June 2005, “Celsius” is a revolutionary product that has the potential to sweep the diet and beverage industries by storm.

“The clinical research proved that drinking one 12-ounce bottle of Celsius increases metabolism by more than 12 percent over a 3 hour period” said principal investigator Ron Mendel, Ph.D., in the report.

The double blind placebo controlled study was conducted at the Ohio research firm “Exercise Scientists and Sports Nutrition,” with twenty men and women separated into two groups. While one group drank 12 ounces of “Celsius,” the other consumed 12 ounces of “Diet Coke.” On another visit, the groups switched and ingested the other product. Each individual’s metabolism was measured before consuming the beverages, as well as three times in a three-hour period afterwards.

Mendel said that after drinking Celsius, participants, on average, saw their metabolisms increase by 13.8 percent after one hour, 14.4 percent after two hours and 8.5 percent after three hours. Participants who drank Diet Coke experienced between four and six percent increases in their average metabolic rates.

“Beverage Industry Magazine” is also singing the praises of “Celsius,” having awarded it the “2005 Best New Product Award.”

Ronan Conlon, a freshman biology major, taste-tested “Celsius” and enjoyed the taste. “It’s refreshing and not too overwhelming,” he said. “It tastes natural.”

But Sacramento State Dining Services Registered Dietitian Stephanie Ewing warned that “Celsius” appears to be nothing special. After scrolling through the beverage’s website at www.drinkcelsius.com, Ewing, who was previously unfamiliar with the beverage, said that consumers experience the same effects as the ones which “Celsius” claims to induce through other regular, everyday products.

“It’s really just like drinking a cup of coffee or those other types of things,” Ewing said. “It’s just a new form of stimulant, nothing too exciting.”

Ewing explained how stimulants, including “Celsius” ingredients such as caffeine, green and guarana, affect the human body.

“What happens is stimulants go into your body and cause your body to work faster,” Ewing said. “As your body works faster, it causes a rise in your metabolism. Basically, the metabolism is just the rate at which your body burns energy. Any type of stimulant is going to cause an increase in the rate at which your body works, which causes you to burn calories.”

But such increased metabolic rates are not the key to magical weight loss, Ewing added. “When they revolutionize weight loss, don’t worry, we’ll all know.”

In fact, despite the company’s claims, its website points out at the bottom of each page that “statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.”

Ewing also cautioned that the research study must be carefully analyzed. For example, only twenty participants were studied and the results were tested over a period of only two visits.

“Even though they’re doing the double blind study,” Ewing added, “It’s in their environment. It’s not as if you and I just did random sampling. It’s one of those things you really have to wonder about.”

Celsius is currently available in five flavors: lemon-lime, ginger-ale, cola, orange and wild berry. It can be purchased at the “Vitamin Shoppe” chain throughout Northern California.

Megan Chuchmach can be reached at [email protected]