We Americans are in big troubleliterally. 2 out of every 3 of us are overweight, and many of us are obesewe don't have just a few pounds to lose, but 20, 30, 40 pounds or more. We try to lose that weight, of course. But a depressing 95 percent of dieters never lose much or gain back everything they've lost. What to do? Well, the answer to that question is an inescapable metabolic reality: you have to decrease your intake of calories and increase your calorie-burning physical activity. But scientific research shows that a select group of vitamins and herbs can safely and effectively aid weight lossby boosting metabolism...slowing the body's fat-making machinery...reducing appetite...building calorie-burning muscle...or blocking the absorption of fats and carbohydrates. I've written about these supplements in my new book, The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy (Broadway, 2007), co-authored with Harry Preuss, MD, a nutritionist and professor at Georgetown University Medical Center. You can find out more about The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy, and my other books on health and healing, at my website, www.drugfreehealing.com. Recently, Dr. Preuss published new research on one of the supplements featured in the book: the fiber, chitosan. The research appeared in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, in October 2006, and I'd like to tell you about it. But first, let me tell you a little bit about chitosan. Chitosan is produced from chitin, the outer covering of marine animals like shrimp and crab. In the stomach, chitosan acts like a soluble fiber, soaking up water and forming a gel that traps fats and oils. The fat-trapping action continues in the small intestine, where positively-charged chitosan molecules attract and engulf negatively-charged fatty acids, the building blocks of fat. The overall effect of fat-trapping: a portion of the fat you eat is ushered out of the body instead of being absorbed. Each gram of chitosan can trap a couple of grams of fat; every gram of fat trapped is 9 less calories absorbed. And, as the recent study conducted by Dr. Preuss shows, that's a plus for weight-loss. Dr. Preuss conducted the study with his colleague Gil Kaats, Ph.D., at the Health and Medical Research Center in San Antonio, Texas. 134 adults were divided into 3 groups: one took 3 grams of chitosan a day; one group took a placebo; and one group didn't get either, but participated in a weight-loss program of their choice. The folks taking chitosan lost more weight than the other two groupsand most of that weight was from fat. You might think that's not such a big deal: don't all dieters lose fat? No, many dieters lose vital, calorie-burning muscle, dooming their long-term efforts to maintain weight-loss. And that's why Dr. Preuss and Dr. Kaats conclude their study with this positive evaluation: chitosan, they say, can help you get rid of body fat with minimal loss of calorie-burning lean body mass.
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
