Ads have told the story of Elizabeth Harper, who supposedly lost 27 pounds in 23 days with a salt and ice trick. No gym, no diet, just a cold drink.
Similar ads use names like the Alpine ice hack or a 5 second water hack. The names change, but they all point toward the same kind of product page.

Overview
Who Elizabeth Harper is in these ads
Elizabeth Harper is a name used in weight-loss ads for the pink salt and ice trick. Our July 2025 report recorded ads claiming she lost 27 pounds this way.
No public record links a real person with that name to the ads, the results or any product. Treat her as a persona, not a verified customer or expert.
Where the Alpine ice hack leads
Alpine ice hack videos often ended with a pitch for a supplement called Alpilean. Its own sales page claimed low inner body temperature causes belly fat.
The pink salt and ice ads in our July 2025 report led to different supplements, such as BurnJaro and SlimJaro.
Who runs each ad is unknown, and the ads may come from affiliates rather than the products’ makers.
What the evidence shows
The claims behind these hacks don’t survive a check of their own sources. Here is the short version.
- The Stanford study Alpilean cited measured falling body temperatures across the U.S. population, not a cause of belly fat.
- A Swiss study it cited linked higher, not lower, body temperature with obesity markers in men and postmenopausal women.
- An NIH study found obesity is not generally linked to a lower core temperature.
- Ice water raised energy use only slightly in a controlled study, and pink salt adds sodium, not fat loss.
- Alpilean’s official website is gone, and its domain is now listed for sale.
Is Elizabeth Harper a Real Person?
There is no evidence that she is. The name appears with the salt and ice trick only on copied promotional pages, not in news reports or interviews.
The name itself is common, which helps it feel ordinary and believable. That’s typical of testimonial personas, which work best when they sound like a neighbor rather than a celebrity.
The claimed result is the bigger problem. Losing 27 pounds in 23 days means more than eight pounds a week, with no change to diet or exercise.
The FTC’s Gut Check guide lists seven claims experts say can’t be true.
The first is a product that “causes weight loss of two pounds or more a week for a month or more without dieting or exercise”.
The Elizabeth Harper story claims more than four times that weekly rate for 23 days, also without dieting. That alone tells you the testimonial can’t be trusted, whoever wrote it.
If a photo or video accompanies the name, it may be a stock image or a clip taken from someone else. Pictures don’t verify a testimonial.
You can test a testimonial yourself. Run the photo through a reverse image search, and look for the person outside the ad, such as in a news story.
If the only places the name appears are sales pages and copied blog posts, you are looking at marketing, not a real customer.
What the Alpine Ice Hack Really Sells
News coverage in 2024 found the viral Alpine ice videos often ended with an Alpilean pitch. The ice water was the hook, and the capsules were the sale.
Alpilean’s sales page, archived in December 2024 and February 2025, presented the product as an Alpine secret with six ingredients that “target inner body temperature”.
The ingredients it listed were fucoxanthin from golden algae, African mango seed, moringa leaf, bigarade orange, ginger and turmeric. Bigarade orange is another name for bitter orange.
The page pushed bulk orders. Three bottles cost $147 and six cost $234, with two free bonus books and a claim that 96% of customers chose six.
Orders went through ClickBank’s checkout. The page promised a one-time payment with no auto-ship and a 90-day money-back guarantee if you returned all the bottles, even empty ones.
The page also described the formula as having no stimulants. The NIH says bitter orange contains synephrine, a stimulant, yet the sales page listed it only as citrus bioflavonoids.
It also carried the standard notice that its statements had not been evaluated by the FDA. That notice appears on supplements because the FDA does not approve them before sale.
The Inner Body Temperature Claim, Checked Against Its Sources
Alpilean’s page cited three studies for its central claim. Each one is real, and none of them shows what the page claimed.
The first is a 2020 Stanford study in eLife. It found that average body temperature in the U.S. has fallen by about 0.03°C per birth decade since the 1800s.
That study adjusted for weight. It described a population-wide shift over 157 years, not a difference between overweight and slim people, and it wasn’t published in 2025.
The second is a Swiss population study from Lausanne. It found body temperature was positively associated with obesity markers in men and postmenopausal women, the opposite of the ad’s message.
The third is a 2009 paper that proposed a hypothesis about temperature and weight. Its abstract ends: “If this hypothesis is validated, new therapeutic approaches may ensue.”
A direct test already exists. An NIH study had people swallow temperature-sensing capsules and concluded that obesity “is not generally associated with a reduced core body temperature”.
So the claim that slim people run warm and heavier people run cold isn’t supported, even by the sources the sales page chose itself.
Does Ice Water or Pink Salt Burn Fat?
Not in any meaningful way. Cold water does make your body work a little to warm it, but the effect is tiny.
A controlled study found that drinking room-temperature water didn’t raise energy use. Water chilled to 3°C produced a small 4.5% rise over an hour.
The researchers concluded that their results “cast doubt on water as a thermogenic agent for the management of obesity”. A glass of ice water won’t melt fat overnight.
Pink salt adds sodium. The FDA advises adults to keep sodium below 2,300 mg a day, about one teaspoon of salt, because higher intakes raise blood pressure risk.
Any quick drop on the scale after a salty drink is more likely water shifting than fat loss. That’s especially true if the drink replaces a meal.
Drinking water is fine, and swapping it for sugary drinks cuts calories. The problem is the promise that a timed glass, or a capsule, melts fat on its own.
The supplement ingredients don’t fill the gap either. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements says there’s “little scientific evidence that weight-loss supplements work”.
On the specific ingredients, its weight-loss supplement fact sheet says African mango might help you lose a very small amount of weight, and fucoxanthin hasn’t been studied enough.
On bitter orange, it warns: “Supplements with bitter orange can cause chest pain, anxiety, headache, muscle and bone pain, a faster heart rate, and higher blood pressure.”
NCCIH, part of the NIH, says heart attacks and strokes “have been reported” after mostly multi-ingredient bitter orange products, and that “some herbs and medicines interact in harmful ways.”
5 Second Water Hack Reviews: Why the Names Keep Changing
People searching for reviews of a 5 second water hack often find pages that sell rather than test. Some so-called reviews are paid placements labeled as promoted or brand content.
The timed names are part of the pitch. A 5-second, 7-second or 60-second trick sounds effortless, and the number makes the claim feel precise.
Our 7-second ice water hack report covers a close variant that pushed supplements such as AquaSculpt.
The same structure appears in reports we’ve published on related ads. Our pink salt trick report checks the recipe ingredients one by one.
Our Lipo Burn pink salt report covers the version sold as a fat-burning recipe. A separate fake celebrity pink salt report examines the Oprah and Yale claims.
What links them is the ending. Each free kitchen trick turns into a paid product, and the product name can change from one ad to the next.
That also explains why reviews are hard to find. When the product name changes often, complaints spread across many names, and each new name starts with a clean search history.
Warning Signs in Salt and Ice Trick Ads
You don’t need to watch the whole video to spot these ads. Most of them share several of these traits within the first minute.
- A first and last name with a precise weight loss, but no city, job or verifiable detail.
- A timed trick, such as 5 seconds, 7 seconds or 60 seconds, with no dieting.
- A famous university or a TV show named as the source of a new discovery.
- A recipe that is promised early but only revealed after a long story.
- A switch from a kitchen ingredient to capsules sold in bundles.
- Countdown timers or stock warnings on the order page.
Two or three of these together are enough reason to close the page. Real weight-loss treatments don’t need a hidden recipe or an invented customer.
How the Salt and Ice Trick Scam Works
The ads follow a predictable path from a free trick to a bulk order. Knowing the steps makes it easier to stop early.
Step 1: A persona shares a dramatic result
The ad opens with a named woman, such as Elizabeth Harper, and a precise number like 27 pounds in 23 days. Precision makes an invented story feel measured.
Step 2: A long video holds back the trick
The video promises a simple recipe but keeps delaying it. By the time it arrives, the viewer has heard a long story about struggle and discovery.
Step 3: Borrowed science makes it sound proven
The pitch names a respected university and a new discovery. Alpilean’s page moved its Stanford date from December 2024 to February 2025, for a study published in 2020.
Step 4: The trick becomes a supplement
The ice water or salt drink turns out to need a capsule to work. That’s the point where a free trick becomes a purchase.
Step 5: Bundles raise the order size
Single bottles look expensive next to six-bottle deals with free bonuses and shipping. Most of the savings depend on buying months of product up front.
Step 6: The refund depends on paperwork
Money-back promises usually require returning all bottles within a set window. If the page disappears, as Alpilean’s has, finding the right contact gets harder.
Alpilean’s Official Website Is Gone
Alpilean’s sales page ran on alpilean.com through at least February 2025. The domain was registered anew in May 2025, and the same page stayed up until at least September 2025.
By May 2026, an archived capture showed a registrar’s notice that alpilean.com had expired.

Today alpilean.com shows a page saying the domain is for sale, and the domain uses parking nameservers.
That matters if you see Alpilean advertised now. The old official site is gone, so a seller’s ingredients, pricing and refund terms can’t be compared with it.
If an ad still uses the Alpine ice hack story, don’t follow it to checkout. Without the original seller, there’s no reliable way to know who is taking your payment.
What to Do if You Have Fallen Victim to This Scam
If you bought a supplement after watching one of these ads, deal with your health first, then the payment.
- Stop taking the supplement. Show the bottle to your doctor or pharmacist, especially if you take blood pressure or heart medicine. Keep taking any prescribed treatment.
- Call 911 for chest pain or fainting. Do the same for a racing heart that won’t settle, or sudden weakness, numbness or trouble speaking.
- Find the charge. ClickBank orders show as CLKBANK*. Use Find My Order on ClickBank’s customer site to request a refund, though older orders may be past its return period.
- Return the bottles if the seller requires it. Use tracked shipping, keep the receipt, and save every email about the return.
- Dispute the charge if the seller won’t respond. Card disputes often close after about 120 days and PayPal’s after 180, so act quickly and explain the misleading claims.
- Check for repeat charges. Even with a one-time promise, review the next two statements for any new charge from the same descriptor.
- Report the ad. File a complaint at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and report the ad on the platform where you saw it.
- Ignore recovery offers. Anyone promising to get your money back for an upfront fee is running a different scam.
Alpilean’s site was offline by May 2026, so its 90-day guarantee has ended for every order placed there. You can still ask ClickBank, but a refund is unlikely.
If you want to lose weight safely, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian. They can help with options that have real evidence behind them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Elizabeth Harper salt and ice trick real?
No. No record shows a real Elizabeth Harper. Her claimed 27 pounds in 23 days without dieting is four times the weekly loss the FTC flags as false.
What is the Alpine ice hack?
It’s a viral weight-loss pitch built around drinking ice water. The videos often led to Alpilean, a supplement whose sales page claimed low inner body temperature causes weight gain.
Is the Alpine ice hack a scam?
The hack is a marketing story. Its central science claim misrepresents the studies it cites, and an NIH study found no general link between obesity and low core temperature.
Are there real 5 second water hack reviews?
Pages calling themselves reviews are often sales or sponsored content. Independent research on cold water shows only a small, short-lived rise in energy use.
Does pink salt in ice water help you lose weight?
No. Pink salt adds sodium, and ice water burns very few extra calories. Any quick change on the scale is more likely water than fat.
Can I still buy Alpilean from the official website?
No. The alpilean.com domain lapsed and now shows a for-sale page. Any page selling Alpilean now can’t be compared with the old official site.
The Bottom Line
Don’t buy anything sold through the Elizabeth Harper salt and ice trick or the Alpine ice hack. The persona is unverified, and the science claims contradict their own sources.
If you already paid, stop taking the supplement and show the bottle to your doctor or pharmacist. Then ask the payment processor or your card issuer for a refund today.
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