The Loser Lipid is Back

by: Pm - September 13th, 2007

The Loser Lipid is Back

Conjugated Linoleic Acid, or CLA, is back in the news again. Though, this time, not as a weight-loss agent, per se.

Earlier this year, scientists concluded that CLA effectively prevents weight-gain and fat accumulation in humans. Several previous studies have found that CLA enhances lean body mass (LBM) and bone density in pigs, rodents, and cattle as well. Though, other trials investigating CLA supplementation for weight-loss and/or lean mass accumulation have been equivocal.

To better explain why CLA seems to promote favorable changes in body composition in some studies, but not in others, researchers recently performed a two-part rodent experiment.

In the first part of the experiment, groups of mice were fed a CLA-containing unrestricted diet, a CLA-containing, restricted calorie diet, a restricted-calorie diet, or their standard diet (control). In the second part, ad libitum control and CLA-containing diets followed by a restriction period were compared.

At the end of the first study period, both of the restricted-calorie diets and the CLA-containing unrestricted diets lead to weight loss. However, only the mice fed the CLA-containing unrestricted diet lost significantly more body fat. Perhaps more impressively, virtually none of the weight loss observed in the mice fed the unrestricted CLA-containing diet was lean body mass. This is highly unusual, as weight-loss is almost always accompanied by significant losses in LBM.

The second part of this research yielded similar results. Both groups lost similar amounts of total body mass, but the mice consuming the CLA lost significantly more fat mass than the mice consuming the control diet, suggesting that CLA modulates body fat independently of calorie restriction.

Taking a second to put this all together…

CLA appears to promote some weight-loss, but may actually do a much better job of reducing body fat. In addition, since the body mass losses appear to be fat mass, rather than metabolically-active lean mass, regular CLA usage is likely to be an effective means of keeping body fat off as well. Best of all, CLA is not a stimulant, so you can take it any time day or night without jitters. It’s also relatively inexpensive and may have accompanying health benefits for the blood vessels and other tissues. So, in the end, CLA may be the best fat burner (and maintainer) of them all …at least all that are currently available to support your training and nutrition programs.

…till next time.

Happy Heaving,

PM

Y. Park, K.J. Albright, J.M. Storkson, W. Liu, M.W. Pariza. “Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) Prevents Body Fat Accumulation and Weight Gain in an Animal Model.” Journal of Food Science (OnlineEarly Articles).

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