Fibers and Supplements: Their Role in Fat Burning
by Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Looking beyond lipolysis, any fibers work for weight loss because they decrease the overall "food utilization efficiency," some -- up to 2 times! It means that a muffin baked with a cup of bran will load you with only a part calories than the same muffin baked with no bran, even if it is the red wheat bran that inhibits lipolysis...


Fibers Are Not All Created Equal

This time the inhibitory effect of fibers on lipolysis works for you: the lipolysis mentioned here occurs in the intestines and these fats are not your body's but those you consumed with food. The less efficient lipolysis is there, the less fat end- products will be absorbed and utilized by the body, including your fat tissue. Some fibers inhibit lipolysis (red wheat bran, white wheat bran, oat bran and sugarbeet fiber), whereas most did not (psyllium seed, pectin LM 12CG, carrageenan, carboxymethyl cellulose, gum arabic, and pectin slow set) [11].

Two plant fibers have been shown to activate this kind of lipolysis. Eleven plant sources (avocado, walnut, pine nut, coconut, lupin, lentils, chickpea, mung bean, oats, castor beans and eggplant) were screened for lipolytic activity. Only two of the sources (castor bean and de-hulled oats) showed significant lipolytic activity [12].

Looking beyond lipolysis, any fibers work for weight loss because they decrease the overall "food utilization efficiency," some -- up to 2 times! It means that a muffin baked with a cup of bran will load you with only a part calories than the same muffin baked with no bran, even if it is the red wheat bran that inhibits lipolysis.

Essential Fatty Acids

Supplementation with polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega-3 family, including fish oil, normalized activity of lipolytic enzymes. [13]. On the other hand, n-3 fatty acid replacement of a high-fat diet containing mostly saturated fats promotes reduced use of fat as an energy source. [48] It looks like there are two different processes: one is to get the fat ready for burning, what the lipolytic enzymes do, another is to really burn them, which is not always happens. For example carbohydrates may be used as a fuel instead, and all the fats will circulate in your body un-demanded. In this sense, so called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) looks much better. Mice fed CLA-supplemented diet had up to 60% lower body fat and up to 14% increased lean body mass relative to controls. The effects of CLA on body composition appear to be due in part to reduced fat deposition and increased lipolysis in adipocytes, possibly coupled with enhanced fatty acid oxidation in both muscle cells and adipocytes. [14]

Chromium

The facts about chromium might surprise you after all you've heard about its fat burning effects. Net lipolysis in adipose tissue of rats fed a diet supplemented with chromium was significantly lower than that from adipose tissue taken from chromium-un-supplemented rats. [15]

There was a double-blind, placebo-controlled protocol to study effects of chromium picolinate on body composition. Participants were healthy, active-duty Navy personnel who exceeded the Navy's percent body fat standards of 22% fat for men, 30% for women. Chromium group failed to show a significantly greater reduction in either percent body fat or body weight, or a greater increase in lean body mass, than did the placebo group. [16]

However, let's keep it in our minds, that chromium has beneficial effects normalizing glucose tolerance. Microelements

Nickel decreased adrenaline and glucagon-stimulated lipolysis in rat fat-cells, and also considerably stimulated glucose incorporation into fat-cell lipids. These effects pretty much resembled those of insulin . These results were also observed with Copper, Cobalt, and (to a lesser extent) with Magnesium. [17]

Calcium

The enzymes of lipolysis and lipogenesis are sensitive to Calcium. Calcium concentrations affect both insulin secretion and insulin action. Raising intestinal Calcium (by taking Calcium with food) lowers serum cholesterol and triglycerides thus indicating a decreased lipolysis. [18]

Caffeine and Caffeine-containing Herbs

Caffeine increases fat burning and energy expenditure due to increased heat production and heat dissipation through the skin [1]. Another stimulator is theophilline well known for it's potent fat burning action [2, 3]. Theophillin is included in most of the controversial thigh creams. Some "fat burning" supplements contain caffeine as a chemical substance, those that claim that they are "all natural" include Caffeine-containing herbs such as Guarana or green tea or the like. Speaking of teas, they are different from coffee. Coffee, besides Caffeine, has morphine-like substances in its beans; they say this is why it is so addictive. Tea has naturally occurring tannins. Tannins occur naturally in relatively abundant amounts in fruits, herbal medicines and common beverages. Tannic acid can inhibit fat depositing in adipose (fat) tissue [4]. Which means that if you have a good piece of cake with a cup of strong tea, you have less chance that calories from the cake will go right into your fat cells.

DHEA

When it comes to fat burning, DEHA (dehydroepiandrosterone) seems to be easy to discuss: it just works. Studies showed that when a rat was treated with DHEA for 4 weeks, its body weight and fat mass were significantly less than the controls fed the same diet. However, by the end of week 3, fat-free mass (mostly muscles!) of the DHEA rats also decreased compared with the controls indicating that the non-fat tissues of the body began being burned, too. Neither food intake nor resting metabolism were different between groups [5]. This means that DEHA is determined to burn anything. Not much fat left? OK, it burns muscles.

There is more when it comes to the effects of DHEA. It influences food preference and total energy intake, which led to a rapid decrease in the consumption of fat, protein and total calories.

Attention low carb dieters! In lean rats DHEA caused a change neither in its total energy consumption nor in its fat consumption, but did cause a preference for carbohydrate over protein!

Both the lean and obese lost weight while consuming the DHEA-supplemented diet. It was concluded that in the obese, DHEA alters macronutrient preference as well as caloric intake. In the lean rat, DHEA has a more subtle effect on relative macronutrient preference and not on total energy consumption. [7]

Bioflavonoids

One has to be careful considering bioflavonoids as weight loss supplements. Total bioflavonoids from red clover and various nuts, as well as Hesperetin, inhibited lipolysis stimulated by the stress-related chemical adrenaline. However, they increased epinephrine-induced fat burning. [8]

Quercetin and Fisetin, two naturally occurring bioflavonoids mobilized fat burning enzymes in the fat cells (adipocytes.) These results suggest that the flavonoids act synergistically with epinephrine on beta-adrenergic receptor of fat cell membrane [9] and that the effect was stronger as the dose of flavonoids increased [10].


References

1. Arciero PJ. Gardner AW. Calles-Escandon J. Benowitz NL. Poehlman ET. Effects of Caffeine ingestion on NE kinetics, fat oxidation, and energy expenditure in younger and older men. American Journal of Physiology. 268(6 Pt 1):E1192-8, 1995

2. Kuppusamy UR. Das NP. Potentiation of beta-adrenoceptor agonist-mediated lipolysis by quercetin and fisetin in isolated rat adipocytes. Biochemical Pharmacology. 47(3):521-9, 1994

3. Kuppusamy UR. Das NP. Effects of flavonoids on cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase and lipid mobilization in rat adipocytes. Biochemical Pharmacology. 44(7):1307-15, 1992

4. Ong KC. Khoo HE. Das NP. Tannic acid inhibits insulin-stimulated lipogenesis in rat adipose tissue and insulin receptor function in vitro. Experientia. 51(6):577-84, 1995

5. Tagliaferro AR. Ronan AM. Payne J. Meeker LD. Tse S. Increased lipolysis to beta-adrenergic stimulation after dehydroepiandrosterone treatment in rats. American Journal of Physiology. 268(6 Pt 2):R1374-80, 1995

6. Hankey CR, et al. Plasma lipids, dehydroepiandosterone sulphate and insulin concentrations in elderly overweight angina patients, and effect of weight loss. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1997 Jan; 21(1): 72-77.

7. Svec F, et al. Dehydroepiandrosterone and macronutrient selection by obese Zucker rats (fa/fa). Appetite. 1995 Oct; 25(2): 143-154.

8. Kuppusamy UR, et al. Antilipolytic action of hesperetin in rat adipocytes. Planta Med. 1993 Dec; 59(6): 508-512.

9. Kuppusamy UR. Das NP. Potentiation of beta-adrenoceptor agonist-mediated lipolysis by quercetin and fisetin in isolated rat adipocytes. Biochemical Pharmacology. 47(3):521-9, 1994

10. Kuppusamy UR. Das NP. Effects of flavonoids on cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase and lipid mobilization in rat adipocytes. Biochemical Pharmacology. 44(7):1307-15, 1992

11. Hendrick JA. Tadokoro T. Emenhiser C. Nienaber U. Fennema OR. Various dietary fibers have different effects on lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of tributyrin in vitro. Journal of Nutrition. 122(2):269-77, 1992

12. Tursi JM. Phair PG. Barnes GL. Plant sources of acid stable lipases. Journal of Paediatrics & Child Health. 30(6):539-43, 1994

13. Tutel'ian VA. Samsonov MA. Vasil'ev

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