Weight Gain Pills Work?

...I came across your website and your page on weight gain pills. I wanted to let you that there are at least some weight gain pills that do work. I bought Vita Salveo Weight Gainer Pills for my husband who has always had trouble putting on weight and he gained 3 kilos in two months. They have the necessary vitamins like you said but also they have protein which is where I think my husbands problems were. He is starting lifting weights because he is still underweight and hopefully he can continue to put on weight...(from Grace)

First off, congratulations to your husband for his gains.

I don't, however, think you can reasonably attribute his progress to his taking the pills you mentioned. If they had any real effect at all, I don't see how you could justify their expense.

As I state in the article you referenced, Do Weight Gain Pills Really Work, the majority of pills marketed as weight gain pills are just over-priced multi-vitamins. Vita Salveo's product is no different.

As you mentioned, in addition to fairly standard amounts of certain vitamins it does contain protein. But understand that the amount of protein (according to its label - www.weightgainplus.com) is a very insignificant amount. Vita Salveo's weight gain capsules claim 350 mg of protein (200 mg whey, 150 mg soy). Consider that an 8 ounce glass of milk contains about 8 grams of protein, or roughly 23 times as much protein as the weight gainer pills.

Each capsule contains about as much protein as a milk mustache or a very, very small bite of hamburger or chicken. Therefore, you'd be hard pressed to justify taking these pills for their protein content. If you did, you would be paying about 50 to 100 times more than necessary.

The rest of the ingredient list for Vita Salveo's pills will be present in most multi-vitamins. Check its nutrition label against Natures Way Alive! for example, and you'll see that the Nature's Way vitamin covers all listed ingredients (in greater quantities is most cases) and much more. And at a fraction of the cost.

You can also safely wager that Nature's Way uses better manufacturing processes and higher quality ingredients.

While correcting vitamin deficiencies can have a positive effect on appetite, there is absolutely no reason to believe these weight gainer pills will be any more effective or even as effective at stimulating appetite than any multi-vitamin. There are no magical ingredients.

The site mentions clinical trials and throws out numbers (300% appetite enhancement) but doesn't even attempt to substantiate these claims. Why not?

So, what is the reason for your husband's weight gain?

I'd guess it has something to do with the the placebo effect. Once you believe something is going to help you, you can subconsciously move towards helping it to help you.

Your husband is not alone in having success with these pills, check this thread from the Body Concept.com message boards - Vita Salveo weight gainer plus. Read through all the pages of this thread and you'll find several posts which claim great success with the product as well as several others who report no success.

Perhaps those who experience success have more suggestible minds?

I'm not suggesting you quit feeding the pills to your husband. If they are working for him, then they are working for him. I'm just saying that it isn't likely the direct effect of the product on his body, but rather the indirect effect of the marketing on his mind that is primarily responsible for his gains.

Vitamins and Minerals for Bodybuilding

Proven Effective Weight Gain Supplement Guide

JP Clifford