Functional Ingredients for Weight Loss

Weight management remains one of the leading reasons consumers turn to supplements.

NewHope360 | Bill Sardi | Dietary supplements are frequently utilized by adults seeking to control their weight. A survey of 3,500 people trying to lose weight found 70 per cent attempt to lose weight on their own without a doctor's assistance and weight-conscious adults prefer to use supplements rather than drugs to control weight. One third of those surveyed used supplements only and just 15 per cent used prescription drugs for weight-loss management.

Some supplements users are rightly concerned about the safety of weight-loss drugs, while doctors appear to be more concerned about the safety of supplements. The withdrawal of the herbal stimulant ephedra from the marketplace gave a bad name to all supplements used for weight management or blood-sugar control.

There are more than 100 supplements that are suggested for weight loss, including natural diuretics, such as uva ursi, juniper berries and dandelion root, or other remedies that work in a variety of ways, such as chitosan, guar gum, ginseng, green tea, chromium, conjugated linoleic acid, hydroxycitric acid, psyllium, fiber and many others.

In general, dietary supplements are not highly regarded, but neither are weight-loss drugs. In fact, the short list of approved weight-loss drugs, all of which are fraught with undesirable side effects, prompts many people to search for safer alternatives.

Chromium: Chromium is a trace mineral involved in the production of glucose tolerance factor. There is considerable interest in chromium as a weight-loss remedy, but chromium supplements have often produced disappointing results in published studies.1

Most weight-loss studies last no more than a year, and after a dietary or supplement regimen is completed, patients often go back to their old habits and regain weight. But a study recently published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine investigated the slong-term use of 14 dietary supplements marketed as weight-loss aids. The results of this study are noteworthy.2

Among overweight or obese men and women, long-term use of chromium and vitamins B6 and B12 was associated with modulating effects on weight. For example, weight gain over a 10-year period for obese men was 11.7 pounds among chromium nonusers whereas chromium users (150mcg or more per day) lost 3.1 pounds. Among obese women, chromium produced a 3.2-pound weight gain vs 14.1 pounds for the non-users.

In another recent study among overweight depressed patients, 600mcg/day chromium picolinate reduced carbohydrate craving and overall appetite increase.3

Among five obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome, 1,000mcg/day chromium picolinate given without change in diet or activity levels caused a 38 per cent improvement in the glucose disposal rate, which measures insulin sensitivity.4

Calcium/Vitamin D: A revolution in the understanding of the need for vitamin D, both from natural sunlight and dietary supplements, is now under way. Vitamin D has profound and broad influence over weight control and mood, which are intertwined. Consider these facts:

Overweight individuals are frequently depressed.5 It is not uncommon for overweight individuals to be placed on antidepressant drugs, which are generally known to increase weight gain.6

It is also widely observed that depression and carbohydrate craving risesin winter months, particularly in northern latitudes, when vitamin D levels are low. Increased appetite, carbohydrate craving and weight gain are more characteristic of winter than summertime depression.7

As the body mass of adults increases, their vitamin D levels are found to be lower. As vitamin D levels decline, waist size increases.8

Vitamin D also preferentially decreases abdominal fat.9 Obese individuals submitting themselves for weight-loss surgery are commonly vitamin D deficient.

Low vitamin D levels are even associated with obesity in children (74 per cent of obese children were found to be deficient in one study).10

Omega-3s: Inflammation is associated with insulin sensitivity.11 European researchers report that omega-3 oils reduce inflammation in fatty tissue.

When researchers at the University of South Australia divided 68 overweight and obese people into groups and assigned them small daily doses of fish oil or sunflower oil, with half of each group also participating in an exercise programme, they found that the group taking fish oil lost an average of 4.5 pounds over a three-month period vs no weight loss with safflower oil.11

A low-fat, low-calorie diet with added omega-3 oils has been shown to reduce body mass index and waist circumference among obese adults.12

Depression is a common complication of type 2 diabetes. Antidepressant drugs often don't work in diabetics. The use of omega-3 oil is believed to indirectly decrease depression in type 2 adult-onset diabetes.13

Anthocyanidins: These are found in grape seed, cinnamon, purple corn, berries and cherries, as well as other fruits and vegetables and are all iron-controlling molecules that inhibit the formation of fat within fat cells as well as have a great potential for the prevention of diabesity.14

It is not surprising to find that whole fruit powder from strawberries and blueberries had no effect upon weight gain, body weight or body fat when consumed with a low-fat diet, but consumption of purified anthocyanin extracts from strawberries and blueberries produced 13-34 per cent less body-weight gain in animals. The fruit extracts contain higher amounts of anthocyanins and less fruit sugar.15

While the weight-loss drug orlistat inhibits lipase, the fat-breakdown enzyme, so does grape seed extract, which may prove to be a safe weight-control agent. Overproduction of lipase reduces HDL cholesterol. Higher lipase activity is associated with greater abdominal fat and greater body mass.16

Cayenne pepper: This pungent spice is an overlooked metabolic booster. Adding cayenne pepper to foods can increase the sense of fullness when eating meals.17 Cayenne pepper also increases calorie burning after a meal.18 Consumption of chili peppers inhibits the rise in blood sugar after consuming a sugary drink.19

Garlic: A remarkable experiment shows a natural molecule may be able to single-handedly quell epidemic levels of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes that now plague Western societies.

Researchers in Israel used allicin, an active ingredient in fresh-crushed garlic cloves, and compared it with enalapril, a drug often used to treat hypertension. Rats were fed a fructose-rich diet for five weeks. During the last two weeks, groups of 10 animals received only fructose, fructose + allicin or fructose + enalapril. After two weeks, allicin lowered blood pressure from the maximal level of 153.4 to 139.7 after two weeks on allicin and insulin was reduced from 11.7 to 6.92ng per milliliter, and triglycerides were cut from 132.8 to 59.6. More remarkably, the fructose-fed rats were massively obese while the fructose plus allicin-fed animals were normal weight.20

Green tea: Components of green tea, particularly epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, have been demonstrated in lab dish and animal models of obesity to reduce fat mass, body weight, fat absorption, blood plasma levels of triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose and insulin.21

Green tea contains caffeine. High caffeine consumption has been shown to reduce weight, fat mass and waist circumference more than low caffeine consumption.22 However, when obese adults were given green tea providing 270mg EGCG in low and high caffeine content, the low-caffeine group still experienced significant weight loss.23 EGCG, the primary active ingredient in green tea, has been shown to be helpful in weight loss by promoting loss of body fat, independent of caffeine.24 It's possible that EGCG pills may be more beneficial than tea drinking in regard to weight control.25

An overlooked mechanism by which green tea controls weight gain is its iron-controlling capabilities. Green tea and its extracts are known to be effective in preventing iron overload.26

Resveratrol: If humans could only reduce their intake of calories, down to eating about one meal a day (about 1,500 calories), they would achieve a health and longevity enjoyed by only a very few. Aside from the senior adult population on the island of Okinawa, there is no large human population that practices what has become known as calorie restriction.

But there now may be an option to what many might perceive as a regimen of deprivation. In recent years researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School have come upon a remarkable molecule that mimics calorie restriction. Resveratrol, available in 70 species of plants, but more widely known as a red wine molecule, mimics calorie restriction. That is, it switches on the same gene that calorie restriction activates — Sirtuin 1, a DNA repair gene.

Of great interest is an enzyme called fatty acid synthase. It is the key enzyme involved in the conversion of dietary carbohydrates (sugars and starches) to fat in mammals.27 Resveratrol is a potent inhibitor of fatty acid synthase.28

Resveratrol is available for dietary supplements, without the calories or alcohol included in wine. Studies indicate resveratrol in wine and animal studies has always been utilized in its trans-resveratrol form. Exposure to light, heat or oxygen may alter its molecular structure into cis-resveratrol, which does not activate the Sirtuin 1 gene.29

Resveratrol opens a new door in the metabolic battle. It could allow humans to 'eat their cake' and not pay the price of diabetes and obesity.30 Resveratrol seems to essentially mimic calorie restriction. It would produce many of the same effects as dieting without having to deprive oneself of food.31 The effect of resveratrol in limiting the production of fat in fat cells is greatly synergized by the addition of quercetin. The ability of fat cells to produce fat is inhibited by 15-18 per cent by resveratrol or quercetin alone, but when combined, this inhibitory effect climbs to 73 per cent, nearly a five-fold difference.32

Stevia: Stevioside is a natural non-caloric sweetener derived from the leaves of stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni). It has been used for many years as a sweetener in Brazil and Japan. It has traditionally been used to treat diabetes by Indians in South America. Only recently has it been demonstrated that stevia does enhance insulin secretion.31 Stevia is believed to exhibit low or no toxicity.32 However, it has been shown to reduce testosterone levels in male rats.33

Stevia is now being considered more than a sweetener. It is being given consideration as an agent for the treatment of diabetes.34

Remarkably, a single oral dose of stevia, at a human equivalent dose of about 350mg for a 160-pound adult, reversed the effects of a 60 per cent fructose diet in rats. Stevia improved insulin sensitivity (ability to enter cells and produce energy). A lower dose, the human equivalent of 14mg for a 160-pound adult taken three times a day, has been shown to increase insulin secretion and sensitivity.35

Stevia, in 500mg doses taken three times a day, has been shown to lower elevated blood pressure on par with many blood-pressure-lowering medication.36 Another study using a lower dose did not significantly lower blood pressure.37

Just how many cases of diabetes and obesity will be averted with the introduction of stevia — in carbonated beverages alone — is beyond estimation at this point.

On those lists of what things are 'in'and what things are 'out' in sweeteners, place aspartame, sucralose and saccharin on the "out" list, and "stevia" on the "in" list. It's about time.

Bill Sardi is a health journalist, author of more than a dozen health and nutrition books, formulator and spokesperson for dietary-supplements companies. This feature is excerpted from his latest book, Downsizing Your Body (Bill Sardi, 2009).

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