Miracle ingredient in fad diets does not work, study shows
Weight changes we experience when we start exercising are not based on fat loss, but mainly on fluid loss. This is why the majority of ‘miracle’ diets and slimming programmes produce a ‘rebound’ effect due to the recovery of the lost fluid. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Because of its chemical similarity to ephedrine, a nervous system stimulant, and the substance’s activation of certain receptors, it has become a popular food supplement, typically included in weight-loss products.
- This would suggest that in a best-case scenario, an individual could burn 42 g of fat after an hour of exercise at that level of intensity.
A NEW STUDY has refuted the value of “miracle” diets that it is possible to lose more than a kilogramme of fat per month, Platforma Sinc, a Spanish science news service, wrote on Tuesday.
The research “Acute p-synephrine ingestion increases fat oxidation rate during exercise”, analysed the effect of consuming the alkaloid p-synephrine on the burning of lipids and examines its role in burning fat during rest and exercise.
This alkaloid can be found in nature (although at low concentrations) in a wide variety of citrus fruits such as oranges, mandarins and grapefruits, and commercially (at greater concentrations) as extract of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium).
Because of its chemical similarity to ephedrine, a nervous system stimulant, and the substance’s activation of certain receptors, it has become a popular food supplement, typically included in weight-loss products.
In a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, experimental study, 18 subjects underwent two experimental trials: after consuming p-synephrine (3 mg/kg) and after taking a placebo (control test).
The maximum rate found for fat oxidation during exercise, in this case in cyclists, was 0.7 g/min.
This would suggest that in a best-case scenario, an individual could burn 42 g of fat after an hour of exercise at that level of intensity.
“This means the weight changes we experience when we start exercising are not based on fat loss, but mainly on fluid loss. This is why the majority of ‘miracle’ diets and slimming programmes produce a ‘rebound’ effect due to the recovery of the lost fluid,” Juan Del Coso, a researcher from Camilo José Cela University in Spain and a lead author of the paper, told Sinc.
Real weight change, based on the oxidation of fat through exercise (and diet) causes a real loss of 200–300 g per week, a little over 1 kg per month.
The paper is in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
