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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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16.01.2009 |
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Weight loss with capsinoids
A supplement containing non-pungent substances extracted from chilli peppers [Latin name Capsicum anuum] raises people's fat burning rate and breaks down their fat reserves in the abdomen area more quickly. Researchers at the University of Maryland and the Japanese food ingredients manufacturer Ajinomoto published the results of their findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Many people however cannot stand the burning sensation that eating chilli peppers causes. For this reason Japanese researchers have been studying the slimming effects of a different group of compounds in peppers: the capsinoids. Substances such as capsiate, dihydrocapsiate and nordihydrocapsiate do not react with the TRPV1 receptor in the mouth, but do so further along in the stomach and intestines.
The figures below show the difference between capsaicin [left] and capsiate [right]. Capsiate has an ether bond and capsaicin an amide bond.
A few years ago Japanese researchers published studies which show that both the pungent capsaicin and the non-pungent capsiate increase fat burning in rats. Soon after, they also reported the same effects in overweight humans. The higher the subjects’ BMI, the better the extracts worked.
When substances interact with TRPV1, the organism produces more fat burning hormones such as adrenalin, and uncoupling proteins [UCPs] become more active in the body’s cells. The proteins increase the cells' metabolism rate. What's more, the components in chilli pepper inhibit the rise in insulin level after a meal.
In the article that has appeared in the AJCN, the researchers gave forty overweight people – whose BMI was between 25 and 35 – a daily dose of 6 mg capsiate in capsule form for a period of twelve weeks. The subjects took 3 mg half an hour before their breakfast and again half an hour before their evening meal. The other forty people were given a placebo.
After twelve weeks the placebo group had lost half a kilo. The capsiate group had lost 0.9 kilos. Most of the weight loss was from the abdominal fat reserves, the researchers discovered.
After taking the supplement for twelve weeks the test subjects in the capsiate group had burned more fat.
The researchers also classified their subjects according to a dozen genetic variants. Because of the way capsiate works, they suspect that certain genes determine how someone reacts to the supplement. A number of the genetic variants turned out to be correlated with the amount of fat that the subjects lost. The table below shows this.
People with some genetic variants do not react at all to capsiate. People with other variants do.
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