Benefits
Body weight and body fat versus placebo during diet and exercise
In the one trial of CaloriBurn itself, 40 mg a day taken with 500 mg of L-BAIBA for 8 weeks alongside a calorie-reduced diet and exercise gave no significant difference from placebo in body weight, fat mass, lean mass or body-fat percentage. Every group, placebo included, lost weight. The trial was funded by the maker.
Visceral fat area in a different grains of paradise extract
In a 4-week crossover study in 19 young women, 30 mg a day of a non-branded extract lowered visceral-fat area on CT versus placebo, with no change in body weight, under-skin fat or total fat. CaloriBurn itself has not been tested for visceral fat, and its own trial found no difference in DXA fat mass.
Energy expenditure and brown fat activity
In small Japanese studies of a non-branded extract, a single 40 mg dose raised energy expenditure mainly in men with active brown fat, and 40 mg a day for 5 weeks raised cold-induced heat production in men with low brown-fat activity. In the CaloriBurn trial, resting metabolic rate did not differ from placebo, including 1 hour after a dose.
Mechanism of action
TRPV1 receptor activation
6-Paradol, 6-shogaol and 6-gingerol act on the TRPV1 channel, the receptor activated by capsaicin from hot peppers, in lab studies. Reviews describe how TRPV1 agonists can switch on brown fat through the sympathetic nervous system; this chain was worked out in animals and has not been measured for CaloriBurn in people.
Brown adipose tissue and heat production
Brown fat makes heat instead of storing energy. In people, the rise in energy expenditure after a grains of paradise extract was seen mainly in those with active brown fat, which tends to be lower in people with more body fat.
Exact nerve pathway is not settled
In one rat study, grains of paradise extract and 6-gingerol lowered sympathetic nerve activity to brown fat, the opposite of capsaicin, and the authors suggested a different mechanism. This is animal work, but it means the capsaicin-like pathway is not settled.
Clinical trials
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, three-group trial over 56 days of placebo, 500 mg L-BAIBA, or 500 mg L-BAIBA plus 40 mg of the CaloriBurn grains of paradise extract, with everyone on a calorie-reduced diet and exercise program; registered as NCT05775003. Funded by NNB Nutrition, which makes CaloriBurn, through an unrestricted grant, and the senior author is a paid NNB advisor. There was no grains of paradise only group (Allen et al. 2026, Nutr J).
Overweight and obese but otherwise healthy men and women, average age 43; 37 completed (12 on the combination).
Every group lost body weight and waist size, but the combination did no better than placebo for body weight, resting metabolic rate, DXA fat mass, fat-free mass or percent body fat, and glucose, blood lipids, heart rate and blood pressure did not differ either. Hunger ratings were lower than placebo at day 28 only. No adverse events were reported.
This tested a non-branded grains of paradise extract from a Japanese research group, not CaloriBurn, and is shown only as background for the plant. Single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study of 30 mg a day for 4 weeks of a grains of paradise extract containing 12.5 percent 6-paradol (about 3.75 mg), with whole-body energy expenditure and body fat measured before and after each period; visceral fat by CT at the umbilicus (Sugita et al. 2014, J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo)).
19 non-obese women aged 20 to 22.
Visceral-fat area fell with the extract and rose slightly on placebo, a significant difference (p<0.05) that was larger in women with more baseline visceral fat (r=-0.64, p<0.01). Body weight, BMI, subcutaneous fat and total fat did not differ from placebo. Whole-body energy expenditure rose from baseline with the extract but not with placebo. A small study of fat-distribution and metabolic surrogates, not weight loss.
This tested a non-branded grains of paradise extract from a Japanese research group, not CaloriBurn, and is shown only as background for the plant. Single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study of a single 40 mg oral dose of a grains of paradise seed extract containing 12.5 percent 6-paradol (about 5 mg), with brown adipose tissue status assessed by FDG-PET after 2 hours of cold exposure at 19 C and energy expenditure by indirect calorimetry; partly government-funded (Sugita et al. 2013, Br J Nutr).
19 healthy men aged 20 to 32; 12 had detectable brown fat and 7 did not.
After the extract, whole-body energy expenditure rose within 2 hours significantly more in the men with active brown fat than in those without (P<0.01), while placebo produced no change. This is an acute metabolic reading in a small group, with no body-weight outcome, and it suggests the effect depends on having active brown fat.
This tested a non-branded grains of paradise extract from a Japanese research group, not CaloriBurn, and is shown only as background for the plant. Single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study of 40 mg a day for 5 weeks of a grains of paradise extract containing 5 mg of 6-paradol per 40 mg, in men screened by FDG-PET/CT for low brown-fat activity, with cold-induced thermogenesis and body composition measured before and after; partly government-funded (Yoneshiro et al. 2021, J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo)).
9 healthy young men with reduced brown-fat activity.
Cold-induced thermogenesis after treatment was significantly higher with the extract than with placebo, while resting energy expenditure did not change. Body weight and fat-free mass did not change, and body-fat percentage fell slightly but significantly with the extract only. A very small study of a brown-fat surrogate.