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Studies on Chitosan: Is Chitosan A Real Fat Blocker?
Several
claims have emerged noting chitosan as one of the most effective fat
burners. In fact, it makes grand
promises of absorbing fat and preventing it from getting into your body,
considering it as the ultimate “fat blocker”.
But, is it really a fat blocker?
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Before
considering any of the studies conducted on chitosan, it is best to know first
that whether chitosan is safe or effective as diet aid remains controversial
even up to these days. Probably you’ve
heard a lot of claims regarding the benefits of chitosan. Many people have said that chitosan does work,
but these claims are contradicted by few studies. Thorough clinical studies on humans have
shown that chitosan does NOT work!
Okay,
let me mention the studies on chitosan that support and contradict these claims.
To
begin, one of the most commonly cited studies on chitosan by the marketers and
manufacturers of chitosan-based products is the 1994 ARS Medicina (Helsinki)
Report. In this study, it was found out
that test subjects lost eight percent of body fat and reduced cholesterol by
thirty-two percent in four weeks.
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Secondly:
there
are various studies on chitosan which revealed that the substance lowers plasma
cholesterol and triglycerides and improved the HDL cholesterol level.
Looking
at these pieces of evidence, one might be sufficiently convinced that
chitosan’s claims are indeed true.
However, when taking the designs of the studies on chitosan into
consideration, the evidence appears in a much different light.
In
the first place, the 1994 ARS Medicina (Helsinki) Report and others that
support it appear to be slackly designed.
Experts have noted that only uncontrolled and anecdotal evidence seem to
be the only available evidence in research up to date.
chitosan
Furthermore:
most
of the cholesterol lowering evidences reported in other resources is attained
in another noteworthy fashion. The fact
is, most of the studies on chitosan were conducted on mice, canines, guinea
pigs, and broiler chickens. There is
actually a lack of studies on chitosan conducted on humans.
chitosan
It is
much unfortunate to say that only one well-designed study on chitosan,
involving humans as subject, has been published. That study was conducted in 1999 by the
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showing that chitosan supplement were
no better than a placebo in reducing body weight. 34 overweight subjects were actually involved
in this study. They were assigned to
either a “treatment group” which received 4 capsules of chitosan twice daily
for 28 days, or to a “placebo group” which received a placebo under the same
regimen. After days of treatment, the
results revealed no significant difference between two groups on any of the
body mass index, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, Vitamins A, D, E or
beta-carotene levels. This is what
actually led weight loss experts to agree that chitosan simply don’t work.
Further studies:
Further
studies on chitosan were conducted, but all of them, however, have shown that
chitosan didn’t block fat. As you may
notice, these studies on chitosan have the same findings as the European
Journal research. And, even worse,
chitosan has been shown to block out some vitamins and minerals.
chitosan
Taken into consideration together:
these studies on chitosan suggest that our
hopes of a miracle dietary supplement remains as simply “hopes”. Well-designed studies and fast and hard
evidences that could support the effectiveness of chitosan still appears to be
absent from the literature. What the
advertisements are saying are simply media hypes, thus the search for a miracle
dietary supplement continues.
chitosan
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With my best wishes