Have a question about the Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge? We're here to answer it!

This week a Facebook Fan asked, "Are there any negative consequences to using this product?"

ViSalus Senior Vice President of Marketing, Audrey Sommerfeld responds...

"There have been many studies done on the shake ingredients, including our patented fiber, the patented amino acid we use, and more! We know that shakes work, and they have been extensively studied. Our product uses amazing ingredients that help build and maintain lean muscle, is easily digested, and includes prebiotics to support a healthy body. Here are just a few studies on why protein shakes work:"

-A Harvard study presented at the 2003 meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity showed: Over a period of 10 years, people who had at least 2 shakes a day with a healthy 3rd meal were 32 .6 pounds lighter than the control group, who followed the standard American way of eating.

-Australian researchers writing in the Journal of Nutrition found: Diet shakes, also called meal replacements, were just as effective for producing weight loss when compared to conventional, structured weight loss diets. However, study subjects using diet shakes were more positive about dieting in general, rating their eating plan more favorably for its convenience than those on the regular food diet. That may be just the motivation some people need to diet.

-Research bears that out. In a Journal of the American Dietetic Association study published in 2001, women who lost weight on a reduced-calorie plan that included meal replacement beverages maintained their losses after a year by drinking at least one diet shake a day in place of a regular meal. Their counterparts in the study, who lost weight on a conventional low-fat diet that did not use meal replacement beverages, regained most of their initial weight.

-A recent study by the New York Obesity Center at St. Luke's Hospital found: People who replace one or two meals a day with these shakes lose 7 to 8 percent of their body weight in a year, compared with just 3 percent for those who try to eat less food. But to keep the weight off after you quit the drinks, you'll have to give up that bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich and limit your breakfast and late-afternoon noshing to about 200 calories each.

-Steven Heymsfield, M.D. of St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital compared and analyzed more than a half-dozen studies which compared meal replacement drinks with conventional low-calorie diets. He found that, on average, people who drink meal replacement shakes for one or two of their meals every day, will consistently lose 7%-8% of their body weight after the first year. This is very similar to the amount of weight loss achieved with medical weight loss drugs such as Xenical; however there are no dangerous side effects. He also found that people who followed low-calorie diets often lost only an average of 3% of their body weight.

-The most impressive long term study to date was completed by George Blackburn, M.D., who is considered to be an expert of metabolism and nutrition at the Harvard medical school. This study lasted for 10 years and had some surprising results. After a decade, the men using the meal replacement shake has maintained a 7 pound weight loss. While this may not sound like a big deal, their counterparts gained an average of 25 pounds.