CLA could help control weight, fat, diabetes and muscle loss
The long-awaited first results of human studies of a popular dietary supplement, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), indicate that the supplement may help overweight adults to lose weight and fat, maintain weight loss, retain lean muscle mass and control adult-onset diabetes.
The findings, presented here this week at the 220th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the worlds largest scientific society, could be good news for the 97 million American adults - 55 percent of the U.S. population - who are considered overweight or obese.
Overweight people who participated in two of the studies, one conducted in Norway and the other in the United States, experienced statistically significant reductions in body fat gain with no serious side effects. In another Norwegian study, people who took CLA lost statistically significant amounts of weight, without otherwise changing their diets.
Marketed online and in health food stores as a nutritional supplement, CLA is a naturally occurring fatty acid. Found in many dairy products and in beef, its biological activity has been studied intensively since it was discovered more than a decade ago. In animal studies, CLA has been found effective in fighting several types of cancer, atherosclerosis and diabetes; enhancing immune functioning and energy; and helping to control weight.
Eighty overweight people took part in the six-month U.S. study, conducted at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The participants dieted and exercised and, as expected, most initially lost weight, according to Michael Pariza, Ph.D., director of the universitys Food Research Institute, and one of the lead researchers for the study. But, as often happens, many regained some of the weight lost when they stopped their diets, he said.
The people who did not take CLA put pounds back on at a ratio of 75 percent fat to 25 percent lean, which is typica
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Contact: Charmayne Marsh
y_marsh@acs.org
202-872-4445
American Chemical Society
20-Aug-2000