CLA Reduces Body Fat

What is CLA?

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a polyunsaturated fatty acid with unique antioxidant properties. It is produced naturally within the human body when the essential fatty acid linoleic acid (LA) is metabolised by various beneficial bacteria that reside in the intestines.

It is also present in many of the same animal foods that were previously thought to be the unhealthiest -for example red meat and dairy products. It is not considered by nutritionists to be an essential nutrient because it is produced naturally within the body when linoleic acid is present. However many scientific studies have clearly shown that increasing your body's levels of CLA to levels well above those produced from linoleic acid can produce remarkable health benefits - including a decrease in body fat and an increase in lean muscle mass.

CLA Alters Body Composition in Animals

CLA-induced changes in body composition were first discovered by researchers in the mid-1990s. These animal studies found that CLA increases lipolysis (the conversion of tryiglycerides stored in body fat into energy-friendly fatty acids), stimulates the burning (oxidation) of these fatty acids in adipocytes (body fat cells) and muscle tissue. In layperson's terms, CLA works to break down fats, inhibit the storage of fats and mobilise body fat reserves for the production of energy. While CLA helps to increase muscle mass and reduce body fat, it doesn't reduce overall body weight; instead, CLA alters the body's fat:muscle ratio in favour of increased muscle (as an over-simplified description of this process it converts body fat into muscle).

Other mice studies have provided photographic evidence that CLA is particularly effective for removing visceral body fat (the type of body fat that accumulates around the stomach). Pot-bellied people take note!

CLA Alters Body Composition in Humans Too!

A very recent (year 2000) study from Norway has just been published in the prestigious medical journal, the Journal of Nutrition. This study monitored sixty overweight men and women. They were divided into five groups who received either a placebo compound, or varying doses of CLA for twelve weeks. Using a high-tech process named dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, the body composition of each subject was accurately measured. The researchers found that daily doses of 3,400 mg or 6,800 mg of CLA produced a significant reduction in body fat mass. There was no additional reduction in body fat mass with the 6,800 mg dosage compared with the 3,400 mg dosage. The researchers concluded that 3,400 mg per day of CLA can produce significant reductions in body fat mass. CLA Has a Unique Mode of Action

Another recent study (year 2000) has revealed another unique mode of action for CLA's fat reduction activity. This study involved mice and determined that CLA-induced loss of fat mass occurs largely through apoptosis (cellular death) of adipocytes (fat storing cells in body fat). This apoptosis mechanism is significant from a practical point of view. One problem with obesity is that once fat cells have accumulated, it is difficult to reduce their actual number. Dieting merely reduces the size of each individual fat cell, making rebound weight gain relatively simple. With dieting and other methods of weight loss fat cells don't disappear - they lay dormant waiting to increase back to their original size as soon as the right conditions (availability of dietary fats) prevail. CLA is the only compound known to actually stimulate the destruction of body fat cells. This same study also demonstrated that CLA increases levels of compounds in fat cells that you will hear a lot about in the future - uncoupling proteins (UCPs) - these proteins stimulate heat production from body fat reserves, ie. they burn body fat.

Using CLA

Although CLA is present in the diet, it is only found in foods that are regarded by many as comparatively unhealthy - red meat and dairy products. The best way to get the fat burning benefits of CLA is to use it in supplement form. There is ample evidence that the optimal dosage of CLA is 3,400 mg per day.

To obtain this amount of CLA from the diet, you would have to consume several servings of meat and dairy products adding up to more than 400 grams of fat to your daily diet. This amount of dietary fat would negate any benefit you would receive from its CLA content, due to the sheer quantity of other fats that this would include and the excess calories this amount of fat contains.

Although it seems logical to increase your consumption of CLA's precursor, the essential fatty acid named linoleic acid (some of which is converted to CLA by beneficial bacteria in the intestines), this doesn't stand up in the real world. The human body has an in-built mechanism to limit the conversion of linoleic acid to CLA, so increasing your linoleic acid intake would not be productive. Increasing your linoleic acid intake is also undesirable in that it has numerous unwanted effects (pro-inflammatory, feeds cancer cells, oxidises cholesterol).

You need to use supplemental CLA for at least twelve weeks to experience optimal body fat burning benefits