Lipo-C Injections (MIC + B12): What the Evidence Shows
Lipo-C injections are marketed as a fat-loss shot, usually described with the shorthand MIC plus B12. Two facts sit under that description and shape everything else on this page. The first is that the name is loose: the one product actually branded Lipo-C that could be verified for this page contains methionine, choline chloride, L-carnitine and dexpanthenol, with no inositol and no vitamin B12 in it.1 The second is that no human trial of the combination was found, and the compounder that sells it says as much.1 This page lays out what the shots are, what the evidence does and does not show, and what can be sourced about them in Vietnam. It does not tell anyone what to take.
0
Human trials of the combination found in a structured search
503A
Compounded, not FDA approved
1
Approved fat injection, a different drug
This is general education, not medical advice, and nothing below is a dose, a schedule, an injection technique, or a recommendation to use anything. Lipo-C is a compounded product, which means it is not FDA approved and its safety, effectiveness and quality are not verified by the FDA before it is sold.2 Any dose figure on this page is reported as what a label or a study states, never as guidance. Decisions about injections belong with a licensed clinician who knows your history, not a webpage.
What Lipo-C actually is
Lipo-C is a compounded injectable sold through compounding pharmacies as a lipotropic shot, meaning a mix of compounds said to support the way the body handles fat. The largest identifiable US compounder that sells a product carrying that exact brand name lists it as methionine, choline chloride, L-carnitine and dexpanthenol, at 15 mg/mL, 50 mg/mL, 50 mg/mL and 5 mg/mL respectively, in water for injection, offered in 10 mL and 30 mL multidose vials (community practice, no trial).1 It is described on that page as a sterile intramuscular formulation, so the route is intramuscular rather than subcutaneous.1
Lipo-C is not a peptide. The vitamin B12 that appears in some lipotropic formulas is cyanocobalamin, a cobalt-containing molecule with the formula C63H88CoN14O14P and a molecular weight of 1355.39.5 The point worth holding onto is that Lipo-C is a compounded blend of cofactors, not a novel drug and not a peptide.
Why MIC + B12 is a loose label
MIC plus B12 is the popular shorthand for these shots. This page could not source what the acronym stands for from a fetched clinical authority, so what the letters are meant to abbreviate is treated here as marketing nomenclature, not a sourced fact. Either way the practical point holds: this is a loose label, not a fixed recipe, the exact makeup varies from one compounder to the next, and the category name tells you little about what is actually in a given vial.
Here is why that matters. The one product actually branded Lipo-C that was verified for this page does not match the shorthand: it contains no inositol at all, and no vitamin B12.1 So the name on the tin and the ingredients in the vial are not the same thing. If you are comparing two shots both sold as MIC plus B12, they may not contain the same compounds, and a page or a clinic that treats Lipo-C and a MIC plus B12 injection as identical is glossing over a real difference. Always read the actual ingredient list for the specific vial rather than trusting the label of the category.
Compounded, not FDA approved
Lipo-C is prepared under section 503A of the US Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the compounder states directly that safety and efficacy for the formulation have not been evaluated by the FDA.1 That is not a technicality. The FDA is explicit that compounded drugs are not FDA approved, and that it does not verify the safety, effectiveness or quality of compounded drugs before they are marketed.2 Compounded medicines exist to fill genuine needs that an approved drug cannot, but the agency also warns that unnecessary use can expose people to risks such as contamination or a product that contains too much or too little active ingredient.2
There is also a quality-oversight gap that is easy to miss. Drugs made in 503B outsourcing facilities are subject to current good manufacturing practice requirements; drugs compounded under 503A, the lane Lipo-C sits in, are not, and their day-to-day oversight falls to state boards of pharmacy rather than the FDA.2 On top of that, the verified product page carries no certificate of analysis, no third-party potency testing statement, and its own reference list contains entries that resolve to nothing, including a DailyMed link left with an unfilled placeholder.1 None of that proves a specific vial is bad. It does mean the usual verification a buyer might assume is present is not something this page can confirm.
What the evidence shows
The honest headline is that there is no direct human evidence for Lipo-C as a weight-loss injection. No trial of Lipo-C, of a lipotropic injection, or of a methionine, inositol and choline injection could be found in a structured search of the medical literature. The compounder concedes the same point in its own marketing, saying the rationale is extrapolated from the individual components and not from randomized controlled trials of the exact compounded combination.1 So any claim that Lipo-C burns fat is, at best, an inference from the ingredients, not a demonstrated result.
When you look at the ingredients one by one, the picture stays cautious. The strongest human signal belongs to L-carnitine, but as a supplement rather than a shot: a 2025 umbrella meta-analysis pooling 16,352 participants on 150 to 4000 mg per day found a pooled reduction in weight, an effect size of -1.11, with very high reported statistical heterogeneity, an I2 of 90.6 percent (pooled meta-analysis, not a recommendation, per-day supplement dosing, route not stated in the abstract, PMID 40298161).10 That is supplemental carnitine, not a Lipo-C shot, and it belongs to the adjacent L-carnitine guide rather than here. For choline, the closest whole-animal test found nothing: in cats given oral choline at 378 mg/kg BW0.67 and L-carnitine at 200 mg/kg for six weeks, treatment did not change body weight, body condition or body composition (animal study, cats, oral, PMID 37565085).8 In growth-retarded pigs, dietary choline actually raised body weight at 120 days while lowering intramuscular fat (animal study, pigs, dietary, PMID 26046629).9
The B12 story cuts against the marketing in a similar way. The one human comparison found was in gastric-bypass patients, where 24 people took oral B12 and 29 received it by injection over six months: oral was as effective as intramuscular, and blood B12 was in fact higher in the oral group, with no weight outcome reported and dose not stated in the abstract (controlled cohort, PMID 33622624).6 And where injected B12 did move weight in a fetched human report, it went the other way: a single deficient teenager gained weight after B12 injections corrected a real deficiency, with dose not stated in the abstract (case report, PMID 40893909).7 B12 injections treat B12 deficiency. They are not a demonstrated weight-loss tool.
The numbers people cite, and where they come from
Dose figures float around this topic, so here is where each one actually comes from, reported as what a source states and not as anything to follow. The compounder describes a common starting regimen of 1 mL intramuscularly once or twice weekly, which it says may be reduced to 0.5 mL weekly for people with stomach upset or increased to a maximum of 2 mL twice weekly under supervision (community practice, no trial).1 It also notes there is no single FDA-approved schedule for the product.1 Read that as marketing copy from the seller, because that is what it is.
- Lipo-C composition: methionine 15 mg/mL, choline chloride 50 mg/mL, L-carnitine 50 mg/mL, dexpanthenol 5 mg/mL, in 10 mL and 30 mL vials (community practice, no trial, source 1).
- Lipo-C regimen the compounder states: 1 mL intramuscular once or twice weekly, range 0.5 mL to 2 mL (community practice, no trial, source 1).
- US B12 label dose: 100 mcg daily for 6 or 7 days, then on alternate days for seven doses, then every 3 to 4 days for 2 to 3 weeks, then 100 mcg monthly for life, and it says avoid the intravenous route (not a recommendation, for B12 deficiency not weight loss, source 5).
- Vietnam B12 label dose: a loading dose of 1000 mcg daily or three times weekly, then 1000 mcg monthly, intramuscular (not a recommendation, for anemia not weight loss, source 19).
- Oral L-carnitine has its own human weight-loss evidence and oral dose range, which belong to the L-carnitine guide and are not restated as Lipo-C figures here.
Notice what the B12 label figures are for. The US cyanocobalamin label sets 100 mcg daily for six or seven days by intramuscular or deep subcutaneous injection, then the same dose on alternate days for seven doses, then every three to four days for two to three weeks, and finally 100 mcg monthly for life, and it explicitly says to avoid the intravenous route because the vitamin is lost in the urine (not a recommendation, for B12 deficiency not weight loss).5 In Vietnam the registered loading dose is higher, 1000 mcg daily or three times weekly with 1000 mcg monthly maintenance, but the indication is the same, deficiency and pernicious anemia, not fat loss (not a recommendation, for anemia not weight loss).19 The wellness use of B12 is off to the side of what any of these labels actually authorize.
The one fat-dissolving injection that is approved is a different drug
It helps to know what an actually approved fat injection looks like, because Lipo-C is not it. The only injectable drug the FDA has approved to reduce fat is deoxycholic acid, sold as Kybella, and only for moderate to severe fat under the chin; the FDA calls it the only fat-dissolving injectable it has approved and states it is not approved for use in any other area of the body.3 A 2021 review says the same, describing deoxycholic acid as the only injectable drug approved in the US and Canada for submental fat.12 That approval rests on real trials: two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies of 514 people on the drug and 508 on placebo, dosed by area at 2 mg/cm2, 0.2 mL per injection site up to 10 mL per session, across up to six sessions at least a month apart (trial dose, not a recommendation, submental fat only).4 The effect was real but modest: in one phase III trial 66.5 percent on the drug versus 22.2 percent on placebo improved by at least one grade (trial result, subcutaneous, PMID 27430612).11 Even for that drug, use outside the chin is off-label and studied only in small, open-label series: a hypogastric pilot of 14 patients used a mean total volume of 26.6 mL (trial dose, not a recommendation, PMID 33795572),13 and a phase I thigh study of 15 subjects used deoxycholic acid 10 mg/mL over two to four sessions (trial dose, not a recommendation, PMID 35005860).14
Two cautions come with borrowing that comparison. First, the FDA warning many pages quote about fat-dissolving injections causing scars, infections, cysts and painful knots is about phosphatidylcholine and sodium deoxycholate products, not about Lipo-C, methionine, inositol or B12, so it should not be pinned on Lipo-C specifically.3 Second, deoxycholic acid is a cytolytic secondary bile acid, chemically nothing like the cofactors in Lipo-C, so its efficacy data does not transfer. The lesson is about the standard of proof: an approved fat injection has trials, a narrow indication, and a labeled dose, and Lipo-C has none of those.
The safety questions people ask
- What the compounder claims about its own product: transient nausea, loose stools, and a temporary fishy body odor from trimethylamine, usually settling within 24 to 48 hours, plus uncommon nodules, infection or allergic reactions. This is a vendor statement, not trial data.
- What the B12 drug label warns: anaphylactic shock and death have been reported after injected vitamin B12, with an intradermal test dose advised in people who may be sensitive; sensitivity to cobalt or B12 is a contraindication.
- A component contraindication the compounder itself flags: severe hepatic failure and inborn errors of sulfur-amino-acid metabolism such as homocystinuria, because injected methionine can raise homocysteine, with caution in advanced kidney disease.
- The general injection risk the FDA lists for unapproved fat-dissolving shots: infections, permanent scars, skin deformities, cysts and deep painful knots, some tied to injections given by unlicensed personnel.
- In Vietnam, injectable B12 carries a benzyl alcohol warning that it is not for newborns or premature infants because it can be toxic and lead to death.
Read that list for what it is and is not. The compounder's side-effect claims are the seller describing its own product, and the incidence figure its page attaches to a safety statistic could not be verified, so it is left off this page entirely.1 The hard, labeled warnings belong to the B12 component and are serious: the US cyanocobalamin label reports anaphylactic shock and death after injected B12, along with warnings around potassium and, in early Leber's disease, optic atrophy.5 Those are drug-label facts, not scare copy.
The other real risk is the act of injecting itself, and here the approved comparator is instructive. Deoxycholic acid can cause tissue necrosis when it is misinjected, for example superficially or into an artery (case report, PMID 31714002).16 In animals, injected deoxycholic acid produced skin ulceration and salivary-gland fibrosis in rats, dose not stated in the abstract (animal study, rats, injection, PMID 35088226),17 and damaged about 75 percent of the nerve cross-sectional area when injected into the nerve, the intrafascicular arm, and 41 percent when injected around it, the extrafascicular arm, versus 7 percent for saline, dose not stated in the abstract (animal study, rats, injection, PMID 39316008).18 Real-world reports on the approved drug include skin necrosis serious enough to require hospitalization (post-marketing analysis, PMID 39553813).15 That is a different molecule, but it underlines a general truth: putting a needle into fat is not risk-free, and technique matters. If your interest is the mixing and handling side of injectables, the reconstitution calculator and the note on bacteriostatic versus sterile water cover the basics.
Lipo-C in Vietnam
On the Vietnamese market, the honest summary is that Lipo-C as a branded lipotropic injection did not turn up. A search of Long Chau, the largest pharmacy chain, for "lipo c" returns vitamin C products only, with the terms Lipo-C, lipotropic, tan mo (fat dissolving) and giam can (weight loss) appearing zero times on a fully loaded results page; this is a genuine null, not a blocked request.20 A related search for tiem tan mo, fat-dissolving injection, returned sixteen products, all topical gels, oral supplements or needles, none an injectable fat dissolver.20 Methionine exists in Vietnam only as an oral antidote: the two methionine products Long Chau lists, from Domesco and Mekophar, are tablets and capsules for paracetamol overdose, not lipotropic shots.21
Injectable vitamin B12 is a different story: it is registered and sold, but as a prescription anemia medicine. Long Chau lists Vitamin B12 Kabi 1000mcg, made by Fresenius Kabi Bidiphar, in boxes of 100 ampoules, filed under the category thuoc tiem chich, injectable drugs, with the pharmacological class given as thuoc chong thieu mau, anti-anemia drug, ATC code B03BA01.19 Its pharmacist-quoted price is 100,000 VND per box of 100 ampoules, and it is a thuoc ke don, a prescription drug sold only on a doctor's order; the route instruction matches the US label, tiem bap (intramuscular) and khong duoc tiem tinh mach (do not inject intravenously).19 Online stock showed as inconsistent in the data captured, so treat availability as something to confirm locally rather than assume.19
One thing this page will not do is claim a registration status it could not check. The Drug Administration of Vietnam runs a public drug registration portal, and its official vocabulary for these records includes So GPLH (marketing authorisation number), Hoat chat (active substance) and Ten cong ty dang ky (registration holder).22 But the portal's search ignores direct queries, so whether any specific Lipo-C or lipotropic product is or is not registered with the DAV could not be determined and is not asserted here either way.22 What can be said is narrower and sourced: the largest chain does not list it, and the only methionine products it lists are oral antidote tablets and capsules for paracetamol overdose. For the wider injectable weight-loss picture in Vietnam, the semaglutide in Vietnam guide covers the one class with real trial data, and the FAQ answers the common sourcing questions.
The short version
- The name is loose: the one verified Lipo-C contains methionine, choline chloride, L-carnitine and dexpanthenol, with no inositol and no B12, so MIC plus B12 is a category label, not its recipe.
- It is compounded under 503A, which means not FDA approved and not verified by the FDA for safety, effectiveness or quality.
- No human trial of Lipo-C or of a lipotropic injection exists; the compounder concedes the rationale is extrapolated from the ingredients.
- The ingredient evidence is oral or animal and mixed: oral carnitine shows a small weight effect, choline did nothing in cats, and B12 injections treat deficiency, not weight.
- The only FDA-approved fat injection is deoxycholic acid, a different drug, approved only for fat under the chin, and its safety data does not transfer to Lipo-C.
- In Vietnam, Long Chau lists no Lipo-C; injectable B12 is sold only as a prescription anemia drug, and registration status of any Lipo-C product is not asserted here.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lipo-C the same as a MIC + B12 injection?+
Not reliably. MIC plus B12 is popular shorthand for these shots, but this page could not source from a fetched clinical authority what the acronym stands for, so it is a loose marketing label, not a fixed formula, and the exact makeup varies by compounder. The one product actually branded Lipo-C that could be verified for this page lists methionine, choline chloride, L-carnitine and dexpanthenol, with no inositol and no B12 in it at all. So the name and the verified formula do not match, and the two should not be treated as interchangeable.
Does Lipo-C cause weight loss?+
There is no trial that shows it does. No human study of Lipo-C, of a lipotropic injection, or of a methionine, inositol and choline injection was found, and the compounder that sells it concedes the evidence is extrapolated from the individual ingredients and not from trials of the combination. The component data that does exist is either oral rather than injected, or from animals, and it is mixed: in cats, oral choline and carnitine did not change body composition, and in one deficient teenager B12 injections were followed by weight gain, not loss.
Is Lipo-C FDA approved?+
No. Lipo-C is a compounded preparation made under section 503A, and the FDA states plainly that compounded drugs are not FDA approved and that it does not verify their safety, effectiveness or quality before they are marketed. The only injectable drug the FDA has approved to reduce fat is deoxycholic acid, a different compound, and only for fat under the chin. FDA approval says nothing about Lipo-C, which was never evaluated.
Can you buy Lipo-C injections in Vietnam?+
The largest Vietnamese pharmacy chain, Long Chau, returns no Lipo-C and no injectable fat-dissolving product on its site, and the only methionine drug products it lists are oral tablets and capsules for paracetamol overdose, not lipotropic injections. Injectable vitamin B12 is registered and sold there, but as a prescription anemia medicine, not for weight loss. This page does not assert whether any Lipo-C product is or is not registered with the Drug Administration of Vietnam, because that record could not be queried.
What are the side effects of Lipo-C injections?+
Only what labels and published reports actually describe. The compounder claims transient nausea, loose stools and a temporary fishy body odor as the common reactions to its product, which is a vendor statement, not trial data. The B12 that other lipotropic formulas add carries a drug label that warns anaphylactic shock and death have been reported after injected B12. And any injection into fat carries the general risks the FDA lists for unapproved fat-dissolving shots, including infection, scarring and knots. There is no trial of Lipo-C safety itself.
Sources & references
- 1.Empower Pharmacy. Lipo-C Injection (methionine / choline chloride / carnitine / dexpanthenol) product page, listing composition, strengths, route, the compounder-stated regimen, and the FDA compounding disclaimer. empowerpharmacy.com / lipo-c-injection
- 2.US Food and Drug Administration. Compounding and the FDA: Questions and Answers. Compounded drugs are not FDA approved, and FDA does not verify their safety, effectiveness or quality before marketing. fda.gov / compounding questions and answers
- 3.US Food and Drug Administration. Using Fat-Dissolving Injections That Are Not FDA Approved Can Be Harmful. Covers phosphatidylcholine and sodium deoxycholate products, and states Kybella is the only FDA-approved fat-dissolving injectable, for under the chin only. fda.gov / fat-dissolving injections
- 4.DailyMed. KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid) injection, solution. US label: indication limited to submental fat, dosing, pivotal trial design (N=514 active, N=508 placebo), and the adverse-reaction table. dailymed.nlm.nih.gov / kybella
- 5.DailyMed. Cyanocobalamin Injection, USP (Hikma). US label: chemistry, approved indications for B12 deficiency, dosing (100 mcg), the instruction to avoid the intravenous route, and the anaphylaxis warning. dailymed.nlm.nih.gov / cyanocobalamin injection
- 6.Vitamin B12 supplementation orally and intramuscularly in people with obesity undergoing gastric bypass. Obes Res Clin Pract, 2021. Controlled cohort, n=53. Oral was as effective as intramuscular; no weight outcome reported. PMID 33622624. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 33622624
- 7.Multifaceted Clinical Spectrum of Vitamin B12 Deficiency, a Case Report and Literature Review. J Blood Med, 2025. A single deficient 15-year-old treated with B12 injections showed weight gain. PMID 40893909. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 40893909
- 8.Dietary choline, but not L-carnitine, increases circulating lipid and lipoprotein concentrations, without affecting body composition, in lean and obese male cats. Front Vet Sci, 2023. Animal study. PMID 37565085. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 37565085
- 9.Effects of Choline on Meat Quality and Intramuscular Fat in Intrauterine Growth Retardation Pigs. PLoS One, 2015. Animal study, dietary choline raised body weight while lowering intramuscular fat. PMID 26046629. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 26046629
- 10.The Effect of L-Carnitine Supplementation on Obesity Indices: An Umbrella Meta-Analysis. Int J Vitam Nutr Res, 2025. Supplementation at 150 to 4000 mg/day, route not stated in the abstract, 16,352 participants, high heterogeneity. PMID 40298161. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 40298161
- 11.ATX-101 for reduction of submental fat: a phase III randomized controlled trial. J Am Acad Dermatol, 2016. n=258 per group, subcutaneous. PMID 27430612. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 27430612
- 12.Deoxycholic Acid (ATX-101) for Fat Reduction. J Drugs Dermatol, 2021. Review: the only injectable drug approved in the US and Canada for moderate or severe submental fat. PMID 34784130. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 34784130
- 13.Safety and Efficacy of Deoxycholic Acid Injection for Hypogastric Fat Reduction: A Pilot Study. Dermatol Surg, 2021. Off-label body area, n=14, mean total volume 26.6 mL. PMID 33795572. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 33795572
- 14.Safety and Efficacy of Deoxycholic Acid for Reduction of Upper Inner Thigh Fat. J Drugs Dermatol, 2022. Phase I, n=15, deoxycholic acid 10 mg/mL. PMID 35005860. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 35005860
- 15.Deoxycholic Acid for Submental Convexity: A MAUDE Database Analysis. Craniomaxillofac Trauma Reconstr, 2024. 13 reports, 21 adverse events including skin necrosis. PMID 39553813. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 39553813
- 16.Inadvertent intra-arterial injection of deoxycholic acid: a case report and proposed protocol for treatment. J Cosmet Dermatol, 2020. Necrosis from misinjection. PMID 31714002. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 31714002
- 17.Adverse effects of deoxycholic acid in submandibular glands, submental, inguinal and subplantar regions: a study in rats. Clin Oral Investig, 2022. Animal study, n=60 rats. PMID 35088226. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 35088226
- 18.Peripheral Nerve Injury After Deoxycholic Acid (ATX-101) Injection in an Experimental Rat Model. Aesthet Surg J, 2025. Animal study, nerve injury. PMID 39316008. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / 39316008
- 19.Nha thuoc Long Chau. Vitamin B12 Kabi 1000mcg product page: composition, intramuscular route, Vietnamese dosing, prescription status, and a pharmacist-quoted price of 100,000 VND per box of 100 ampoules. nhathuoclongchau.com.vn / vitamin b12 kabi
- 20.Nha thuoc Long Chau. Site search for "lipo c", HTTP 200 with a fully parsed product payload. Results are vitamin C products only; the terms Lipo-C, lipotropic, tan mo and giam can appear zero times. A genuine null. A companion search on the same site for tiem tan mo (fat-dissolving injection), at /tim-kiem?s=ti%C3%AAm%20tan%20m%E1%BB%A1, returned sixteen products, none an injectable fat dissolver. nhathuoclongchau.com.vn / search lipo c
- 21.Nha thuoc Long Chau. Site search for "methionin". The only two methionine drug products are oral tablets and capsules for paracetamol overdose (Domesco and Mekophar). nhathuoclongchau.com.vn / search methionin
- 22.Cuc Quan ly Duoc (Drug Administration of Vietnam). Public drug registration portal and its official registration terminology. The portal loads but its search ignores URL parameters, so a Lipo-C record could not be queried. dichvucong.dav.gov.vn / congbothuoc
Related reading
L-Carnitine Guide
The carnitine weight evidence, in the adjacent lane
Semaglutide in Vietnam
The injectable weight-loss class with real trials
Reconstitution Calculator
Mixing and measuring multidose vials
Bacteriostatic vs Sterile Water
What the different injection waters are for
Peptides Vietnam FAQ
Common sourcing and safety questions
This guide is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It describes what published labels and research say; it is not an endorsement or an instruction to use any compound, and it does not provide a dose or a schedule to follow. Compounded injections carry real risks, and Lipo-C in particular has no human trial behind it. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any decision about your health.