Chitosan Fat Blocker Diet
Chitosan is a natural nutritional fiber which is made from the shell of lobster, shrimps and crabs. It is taken from chitin, a polysaccharide found in the shells of these creatures.
Chitosan is said to be capable of absorbing fat and preventing it from getting into your body by binding dietary fat and cholesterol. There have been numerous claims noting chitosan as one of the most successful fat blockers, acting like a fat magnet.
The effectiveness of chitosan as a fat blockers remains to be seen, as you can read below, but strangly enough there's another application for chitosan that certainly looks like a fat magnet: water purification!
Simply spread over the surface of water, chitosan instantly absorbs toxic matters as phosphorous, heavy minerals, greases and oils. That's what you call a fat blocker!
But ....
The evidence for chitosan as aid in reducing body weight is not convincing.
The 1994 ARS Medicina Report stated that 8% of body fat reduction and a whopping 32% reduced cholesterol was achieved on test subjects in four weeks. But the report seemed to be 'loosely' at least. It was uncontrolled and based on anecdotal evidence.
Other reports ,that showed cholesterol lowering evidences were carried out on mice, canines and guinea pigs.
Dr. Judy Stern, from the University of California, did a study into the effectiveness of chitosan and her results show chitosan does not block the absorption of fat.
In 1999 another study, conducted by the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that in reducing body weight chitosan supplements were no better than placebos. Weight loss experts concluded, based on these results, that chitosan does not work.
Further studies on Chitosan all have shown that it did not block fat.
In fact, a minor concern developed because chitosan seems to block out some vitamins and minerals required by the body in order to remain healthy.
Given its abundance in the natural environment and its low potential for toxicity however, chitosan is not expected to harm people when used according to label directions.
Another point is that the FDA has issued several warnings for unevidenced claims from manufacturers of chitosan.
So, the jury is still out on this one. Our advice: be careful!
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