Posted by Larry Hoover on March 3, 2007, at 8:31:14
In reply to Re: Anyone know what supplement causes weight loss, posted by Llurpsie_Noodle on March 2, 2007, at 11:13:13
> You can buy it in the USA under the name of "Tonalin". (CLA, that is, not cheesecake: that's under the brand name "Sara Lee"
Tonalin is a synthetic form of the group of structurally related fatty acids which get lumped together as "CLA". It's actually slightly more effective than the natural conjugated fatty acids in dairy.
> Is CLA an essential fatty acid? That is, will supplementing it provide health benefits to other folks, similar to how supplementing Omega-3 acids is associated with reduced inflammation and heart health?
No. It's a bacterial by-product. It's actually produced by accident by low-efficiency bacterial enzymes. The human body can potentially synthesize one isomer from a precursor, but you'd have to have a high dairy fat intake in the first place, and dairy already has the finished products in it.
The long-chain PUFAs (poly-unsaturates) characteristically have double bonds three carbons apart. The bacterial enzyme latches onto one of those double bonds, and forms a 'reaction complex', where the bond has become partially between the enzyme and the fatty acid. If the fatty acid leaves the enzyme before the reaction is complete, the partial bond 'snaps back' onto the fatty acid, and it can sometimes go back such that what was once a 3-3 spacing is now a 2-4 spacing. Two double bonds separated by two carbons have special properties, and such groupings are called conjugation.
CLA is derived from an essential fatty acid, but the product is not essential in any way (as far as we yet know). Somehow, the mere presence of one of its isomers changes fatty acid metabolism, probably by interfering with fat storage pumps. You don't store fat efficiently, in the presence of this distorted fatty acid. Thus, if you cause your fat storage vescicles to release fat while the uptake pumps are blocked, it's a one-way street. While on a high-calorie diet, you might prevent fat storage, but I'd hate to think what your blood triglycerides might be like. All that fat looking for a place to go, and no parking spaces.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:736408
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20070227/msgs/737905.html