Inside the Mind of Deserusan

Through numerous media outlets we have seen a variety of fat burning compounds touted as being effective. These would include chromium picolinate and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Now I’m sure a few of you out there remember the good old days of effective fat burners such as the beta 1 & 2 adrenergenic agonist ephedra. Too bad the media decided to cast that in such a negative light thus creating a backlash and eventual banning by the Food and Drug Administration.

What really gets on my nerves though is that both supplemental chromium and CLA are essentially worthless for losing weight yet the media praises them. As a result the general public runs to their local supplement shops and by these in hoards. Little do they know they are just the victims of masking false claims for the sake of a high profit margin product that can be sold at a low price.

While I’m not going to “out” how many the raw materials sell for rest assured the profit margin is still exceedingly high despite their low price tags. Now some of you are thinking “How can they get away with that? Didn’t the Federal Trade Commission bust and fine many supplement companies totaling $25 million for false claims and doctored clinical reporting?” Since when has does Uncle Sam’s do anything which isn’t spurred on by the lobbying contingency with the biggest voice? Cigarettes are still legal in case you have been living on Pluto (which is no longer classified as a planet FYI).

I’d also like to “out” the companies involved but can only say this much, these compounds are mass produced by the same companies who also supply materials for the pharmaceutical industry. How often do you see plugs in the media for certain drugs so why not promote worthless supplements in the hopes someday you might turn to prescription alternatives? Think about it…..

While there are numerous studies essentially proving these are useless as fat loss agents in humans this one will hopefully strike a cord in some of you who swear by chromium and CLA:

J Nutr Biochem. 2007 May 23; [Epub ahead of print]

Chromium picolinate and conjugated linoleic acid do not synergistically influence diet- and exercise-induced changes in body composition and health indexes in overweight women.

Diaz ML, Watkins BA, Li Y, Anderson RA, Campbell WW.

Department of Foods and Nutrition, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.

This study assessed the effects of combined chromium picolinate (CP) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation on energy restriction and exercise-induced changes in body composition, glucose metabolism, lipid lipoprotein profile and blood pressure in overweight, premenopausal women. For 12 weeks, 35 women [age 36+/-1 years (mean+/-S.E.M.); BMI 28.0+/-0.5 kg/m(2)] were counseled to consume a 2092 kJ/day (500 kcal/day) energy deficit diet and performed 30 min of moderate-intensity walking or jogging 5 days/week. The women were randomly assigned to ingest either CP-CLA [400 mug chromium (Cr), 1.8 g CLA in 2.4 g tonalin oil, n=19] or placebo (<0.1 mug Cr, 2.4 g canola oil, n=16). Compared to baseline, urinary Cr excretion increased 22-fold, plasma CLA isomer 18:2 (c9,t11) content increased 79% and plasma CLA isomer 18:2 (t10,c12) became detectable in CP-CLA and were unchanged in Placebo. Over time, body weight decreased 3.5+/-0.5% (CP-CLA -2.6+/-0.5; placebo -2.5+/-0.5 kg) and fat mass decreased 8.9+/-1.3% (CP-CLA -2.7+/-0.5, placebo -2.4+/-0.5 kg), with no differences in responses between groups. Fasting blood hemoglobin A(1c), plasma glucose and insulin, a homeostatic assessment of insulin resistance, serum total cholesterol (CHOL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerol (TG), CHOL/HDL ratio, TG/HDL ratio and sitting systolic and diastolic blood pressures were not changed over time or influenced by CP-CLA. The use of a combined CP and CLA supplement for 3 months does not affect diet- and exercise-induced changes in weight and body composition or improve indexes of metabolic and cardiovascular health in young overweight women.