Serena Solomon of RNZ<\/p>\n
Calocurb, a New Zealand dietary supplement made from hop flowers, has delivered impressive clinical study results, according to some weight-loss experts<\/p>\n
Colin Oldham, 63, is acutely aware that the high-carb content of beer can contribute to weight gain. After all, he farms 60 acres of hop vines in Motueka. Hops are the key ingredient in beer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had put on some weight – the middle-age spread – and decided to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s ironic is he started taking Calocurb, an appetite-suppressing dietary supplement made from the hop flowers he grows. Since he started taking the pills daily a year ago, he has lost seven kilograms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you grow a product and then, as a passionate third-generation hop grower, get in after work and have a cold beer made from your hops, and then also take a pill to keep your weight under control [made] with the same product – I mean, life can\u2019t get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The folks at Calocurb might be singing a similar tune. The supplement, born of a true New Zealand discovery in 2010, recently released the results of a clinical study that shows promising results but with some limitations, according to two New Zealand weight-loss experts. While labelling Calocurb as something of a natural GLP-1 weight loss wonder is a tall exaggeration – the GLP-1 Wegovy achieves an average of 13 percent body weight loss compared to Calocurb\u2019s 4.3 percent – the study hints at a role the supplement could play in the fight against the global obesity epidemic and the middle-aged spread.<\/p>\n
How does Calocurb works?<\/p>\n
GLP-1 weight loss medications have become a key weapon in the fight against obesity in recent years. Wegovy and Mounjaro, both weekly injectables, are the only two available in New Zealand from this new era of GLP-1s. The drugs are privately funded and cost between $400 and $800 a month.<\/p>\n
Drugs like Wegovy mimic the gut hormone known as GLP-1 to promote a feeling of fullness while slowing down digestion. Calocurb uses our evolutionary response to bitterness, stimulating the release of those fullness hormones to reduce food cravings and hunger. Less food, fewer calories equals weight loss, similar to Wegovy but with reduced results. The price tag is lower, but it will still cost you around $110 a month if taken as directed.<\/p>\n
Calocurb was launched in 2018 after New Zealand\u2019s Plant and Food Research screened 900 plant extracts to see what might suppress appetite.<\/p>\n
What does the study say?<\/p>\n
The randomised placebo-controlled clinical study, the gold standard of studies, followed 150 overweight and obese adults for six months. Those who took Calocurb – and not the placebo – lost an average of 3.8 kg, which was all fat mass and not lean muscle mass. The speed at which Wegovy users lose weight has caused issues with lean muscle mass loss – between 20 and 40 per cent of total body mass loss. This can negatively impact strength, metabolism and bone density.<\/p>\n
Calocurb spent $2 million to conduct the study, which sets it apart from similar supplements that often lack the science to back up their marketing claims, says Calocurb CEO Sarah Kennedy.<\/p>\n
What do weight loss experts say?<\/p>\n
Dr Maria Casale, a dietitian at Massey University, called the study\u2019s results \u201cvery promising\u201d but added it was one significant study and more research needed to be done to determine Calocurb\u2019s true effectiveness. The company had previously completed three much smaller studies that also had positive results.<\/p>\n
Muscle mass may have been preserved simply because the weight loss was lower and slower compared to something like Wegovy, she says. Casale disputed the company\u2019s claim that this latest study demonstrated \u201csustained weight loss over time”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve done 24 weeks. Let\u2019s see those people in another two years and see where they\u2019re at, who are in this study, and then we would know. And even then, really up to five years, you should be following people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peter Shepherd, an obesity and diabetes professor at the University of Auckland, has followed the company\u2019s progress for several years. He tried it for a week and found it reduced his appetite and \u201cfood noise,\u201d the intrusive thoughts about food that GLP-1 users often say are eliminated on the medication.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a proper clinical trial under proper conditions, and it\u2019s achieving real-world weight loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that some US-based companies are trying to mimic the same concept demonstrates Calocurb is onto something, he says.<\/p>\n
How could Calocurb be used?<\/p>\n
Those who are using Wegovy likely have a BMI over 30 and are considered obese. Weight loss can be a matter of life or death given the potential for obesity to lead towards comorbidities like diabetes and heart disease. Calocurb, based on the results of this new study, likely won’t move the dial much for those patients, Casale says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my concern is this will feed into a lot of body dissatisfaction, a lot of body image [issues], the pressure we have to look a certain way, and people will see this as a cheap alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy says Calocurb is finding success in the US, where some doctors are using it for patients who stop using medications like Wegovy due to severe side effects. About 15 percent of participants in clinical trials pulled out because of side effects such as nausea and vomiting. One patient in the Calocurb study pulled out due to side effects from taking the supplement.<\/p>\n
Other doctors are using Calocurb along with weight loss medications to reduce the dose and thus the cost of drugs like Wegovy, says Kennedy. There is also a role for Calocurb as a stepping stone if patients want to come off a GLP-1 medication. Drug makers often describe the drug class as \u201cforever medications\u201d with numerous studies indicating that those stopping a GLP-1 like Wegovy regain much, if not all, of their lost weight because the food noise and appetite can return with a vengeance. Calocurb could temper that response, says Kennedy.<\/p>\n
However, two of the weight-loss doctors in New Zealand interviewed previously for GLP-1 stories had heard very little about Calocurb and are yet to recommend it to patients. Kennedy says the reason for that is likely because Calocurb has focused its marketing on the $97 billion US obesity and diabetes market, where more than 10 percent of the population report using a GLP-1 medication.<\/p>\n
What does this mean for hop growers?<\/p>\n
Calocurb sold 250,000 units in 2025, a growth of 300 percent, says Kennedy.<\/p>\n
Back on the farm, new plants of the unique variety of hop used in Calocurb are going into the ground to meet growing demand, says Blair Stewart, the CEO of NZ Hops, a cooperative of 24 hop farms in the Motueka area. About five percent of Oldham\u2019s land, the hop farmer who is now seven kilograms lighter, is Calocurb’s hop variety.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy far and away, our biggest demand is for beer,\u201d says Stewart.<\/p>\n
\u201c… but the neat thing about Calocurb is now we have an additional demand or opportunity to grow for a completely new sector, and that\u2019s exciting for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serena Solomon of RNZ Calocurb, a New Zealand dietary supplement made from hop flowers, has delivered impressive clinical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-547755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}