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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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24.10.2010 |
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After 432 days of taking chitosan you’d be 1 kg lighter
Chitosan supplements are not a complete swindle, but they aren’t really effective either. Five years ago nutritionists at the University of California at Davis showed that the ‘fat-catching’ effect of chitosan is negligible.
Chitosan is a fibre that is found in crab shells. In the digestive tract the fibre binds fat so that the body no longer absorbs it. So you lose weight, theoretically. But just how much fat chitosan really prevents from being absorbed, the supplements sellers are silent about – in all languages.
That’s why the researchers were paid by the law firm Consumer Justice Center to test the chitosan supplement Natural Balance Fat Magnet on 12 men and 12 women. During an experiment that lasted 4 days, the subjects were given 5 meals containing fat each day. Before each meal they took 2 capsules, making the total amount of chitosan they consumed 2.5 g per day.
The weight of the subjects’ stools increased as a result of taking the supplement, especially in the men, but also in the women. But the amount of fat in the stools hardly changed at all.
In the men the amount of fat in the stools increased by 1.8 g. In the women there was no change at all.
The amount of fat ‘captured’ represents 16.2 kcal. So if you get 16.2 kcal less than your body burns, after 432 days you’ll have lost 1 kg fat. That’s more than nothing, but not a lot more.
When the researchers consulted other studies on chitosan, they found that the results were pretty similar to their own.
The researcher’s conclusion is clear: "The authors now have evidence that the claims that chitosan is a fat-trapping weight-loss aid are not merely unsubstantiated, they are false."
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