Diets Atkins to the ZoneWeight loss plateau: the checklist
by Tanya Zilberter, PhD
Here's a brief overview of most possible reasons for hitting the plateau and brief advice on solutions.
Check out your inches loss.
If you are still losing inches, especially around your waist line, you don't hit your plateau at all.
You may be losing fat but gaining muscle mass.
Watch your body fat percent rather than body weight.
You had been losing fat too fast before you stalled.
Slow down. Eat more, specifically, eat more fat. Experiments have recently shown that after a certain level of fat loss is achieved, the fat tissue reduces the rate of fat burning. Let it pass and start all over again.
You may be eating too little fat
Higher proportion of fats in your diet will increase ketone body levels, which in its turn will reduce your appetite.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega-3 family, including fish oil, help in the work of fat burning enzymes.
You may be exercising too much
Though this is the last thing one suspects, it's more common than dieters think. You might be exercising too much.
Reduce your aerobic workout and include non-aerobic exercises in your routine.
A high aerobic fitness level is associated with a lower resting rate of fat burning and a lower production and utilisation of free fatty acids at rest.
You may be spending too little energy.
Finally, the most known reason. You might be spending too little energy beyound exercises. Move around more between exercises.
You may be doing wrong exercises
Resting fat burning is markedly increased in people involved in strenuous endurance training.
Adding more lean mass to your frame will also help you burn more calories at rest, so do your weights!
Keep your exercises challenging. A better fitness level causes a significant increase in the fat burning response in fat tissue towards adrenal hormones.
You may be too stressed out
Learn relaxation techniques. Learn how to improve your sleep quality.
Stress hormones were shown to slow down fat burning in the long run. Growth hormone, one of the most potent fat burners, is being released into the blood during sleep. You might also reduce your protein intake to help growth hormone releasing.
You might be having too calorie-dense food
Choose the least calorie dense foods and add more fiber. Calorie density is how many calories there is in a gram of food. The less the better. Calorie dense foods move faster through the stomach and intestines and result in lesser satiety.
You might be having too carbohydrate-rich food
Choose food with low glycemic index and containing less carb grams per food weight unit.
Not only how much energy but also how much carbohydrate there's in a gram of food can influence your weight. With carbs, it is also important how fast they can be digested, how much and how soon
Foods with higher glycemic index cause higher insulin level and therefore fat storing versus fat burning. They also decrease concentration of leptin in the blood and leptin is the major player in weight plateau game. Less leptin was shown to associate with more fat cells' number and size.
You might be having hidden carbs
Remember that there's no free carbs!
Count ALL carbs, including those in cheeses, cream, artificial sweeteners. Pay attention to these ingredients on nutrition information labels, they all contain carbs:
Isomalt
Lactitol
Maltitol
Mannitol
Sorbitol
Xylitol
You might be not having enough nutrients
See if you are having enough of these nutrients:
DHEA, omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA,) nicotinic acid (a B-group vitamin) - all these supplements were shown to help fat burning. Vitamin D deficiency can inhibit fat burning enzymes. Chromium , though no fat burner, can help in our particular case, low carb diets, by improving insulin sensitivity.
Tannic acid, which is abundant in teas, can inhibit fat depositing in adipose (fat) tissue. Besides, green tea works as a good natural "carb blocker". French clinical studies showed that8 grams of green tee extract a day resulted in greater weight loss than similar control diet.
You might be having wrong supplements
Supplements make up the greatest part of the super-profitable weight loss industry. Are all dieters that use them just salespeople's victims? Some doctors just do not believe in them, while health concerned people are taking them religiously, preferring one brands over another, depending on their beliefs and the selling art skills of supplement distributors.
Meanwhile, the matter has nothing to do with beliefs because there are scientific facts about vitamins and their effects on weight loss.
Vitamin A
The fat burning can be greatly influenced by vitamin A. Adipose tissue from vitamin A-deficient animals showed an increased fat burning rate. That would be great news for any dieter, however, in Nature, increased fat burning means that the body is wasting its energy resources. On the other hand, excess vitamin A caused a decrease in fat burning, so think again when you are going to take a vitamin A pill. [1]
Vitamins of B-group
Believe it or not, fat burning can be dangerous when products of lipolysis begin to circulate in the blood threatening to settle in the blood vessels sometimes forming deadly clogs. Luckily, one of the B-family, Nicotinic acid, seems to be able to prevent this unwanted effect. It actually prevented the increase in free fatty acids concentration that occurred during exercise. Levels of free fatty acids during the nicotinic acid treatment were significantly lower than control values during both exercise and recovery after exercise. [2]
Although after administration of nicotinic acid adipose tissue fat burning increased, the released fatty acids were retained in adipose tissue. [3] This effect of nicotinic acid allows it's use it as a protective measure on the development and progression of cardiovascular disease. [4]
Another b-family member, Carnitin enhanced fat burning. [5]
Vitamin C
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) combined with Algae increased fat burning in a synergistic manner. [6] However, ascorbic acid decreases the lipolytic effect of stress as a result of its direct effect on fat (adipose) tissue [7]. It looks like vitamin C can help to increase fat burning at rest but it blunts the lipolysis already activated by stress through the emergency nervous system (sympathetic).
Here we come to a very interesting point that proves vitamins are principally different from drugs. A drug does always the same thing for you. If it is designed to decrease body temperature, for example, there's no way it will increase it in any circumstances. However, there is a class of biologically active substances that act depending on the body state. Their major purpose is to return a body function back to normal. They are adaptogenes. In this sense, vitamin C looks like an adaptogene, and so do some other vitamins as we'll see below.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D (or increased sensitivity to vitamin D) raises cholesterol levels. On the other hand, vitamin D2 acted to oppose stress-induced fat burning. [8, 9] It means that while working as a pro-lipolysis agent, vitamin D helps prevent a lipolysis from going too far. Doesn't it look like adaptogene again?
Vitamin E
Vitamin E so far is not known for its direct effect on fat burning, however, E-avitaminosis was shown to deteriorate the activity of the fat burning enzymes in the liver, skeletal muscles and kidneys. [10]. Alpha-tocopherol in rather high doses has been shown able to decrease fat burning activated by lack of oxygen, for example during anaesthesia [11], or after trauma [12], thus limiting the bad trauma-induced changes in metabolism. Adaptogene, isn't it?!
Vitamin K
Vitamin K is one more vitamin that protects against the unfavorable vasing lipolysis in the liver, skeletal muscles and kidneys. It was established that in rats with food K-avitaminosis, liver and skeletal muscle enzyme helping in the breakdown of lipids, lipase, was activated. The analogous changes in the activity of the test enzymes were discovered in animals given 'antivitamin' K -- pelentan. [10].
What kind of conclusion can be drawn out of these facts? Sorry guys, if you are looking for a magic bullet to dramatically increase fat burning, look somewhere else.
References
1. Ramachandran CK, et al. Metabolic potential of the adipose tissue of rats during hyper- and hypovitaminosis A. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1986 May; 182(1): 73-78.
2. Trost S, et al. The effect of substrate utilization, manipulated by nicotinic acid, on excess postexercise oxygen consumption. Int J Sports Med. 1997 Feb; 18(2): 83-88.
3. Wahlberg G, et al. Effects of nicotinic acid treatment on glyceride formation and lipolysis in adipose tissue of hyperlipidemic patients. Int J Clin Lab Res. 1993; 23(2): 88-94.
4. Ishikawa T. Nicotinic acid and derivatives for therapy of hyperlipoproteinemia. Nippon Rinsho. 1994 Dec; 52(12): 3292-3297.
5. Koldovsky O, et al. Developmental aspects of lipid metabolism. Physiol Res. 1995; 44(6): 353-356.
6. Nakagawa H. Effect of dietary algae on improvement of lipid metabolism in fish. Biomed Pharmacother. 1997; 51(8): 345-348.
7. Misekova D. Lincova D. Hynie S. The effect of ascorbic acid on adrenergic lipolysis. Sbornik Lekarsky. 94(1):55-62, 1993.
8. Fassina G, et al. Effect of vitamin D2 on hormone-stimulated lipolysis in vitro. Eur J Pharmacol. 1969 Feb; 5(3): 286-290.
9. Fassina G, et al. Antagonistic action of vitamin D2 on noradrenaline-induced lipolysis in vitro. J Pharm Pharmacol. 1967 May; 19(5): 344.
10. Lider VA. Tissue lipolytic activity with various vitamin K and E allowances in white rats. Vopr Pitan. 1985 Sep; 5: 37-39.
11. Camus G, et al. Tocopherol mobilization during dynamic exercise after beta-adrenergic blockade. Arch Int Physiol Biochim. 1990 Mar; 98(1): 121-126.
12. Abidova SS, et al.The efficacy of using alpha-tocopherol during ftorotan anesthesia. Eksp Klin Farmakol. 1996 Jul; 59(4): 3-4.
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 influendes 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].
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, carboxymethylcellulose, gum arabic, and pectin slow set) [11].
Two plant fibers have been shown to activate this kind of lipolysis. Eleven plant sources (avocado, walnut, pinenut, coconut, lupin, lentils, chickpea, mungbean, oats, castor beans and eggplant) were screened for lipolytic activity. Only two of the sources (castor bean and dehulled oats) showed significant lipolytic activity [12].
Looking beyound 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 muffine 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 undemanded.
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-unsupplemented 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 normailsing 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]
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 AV. Bogdanova SN. Pogozheva AV. Varsanovich EA. Abakumov AS. Effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega-3 family on the activity of lysosomal lipolytic enzymes. Voprosy Pitaniia. (5):17-21, 1993
14. Park Y, et al. Effect of conjugated linoleic acid on body composition in mice. Lipids. 1997 Aug; 32(8): 853-858.
15. O'Flaherty EJ, et al. Alterations of rat adipose tissue metabolism associated with dietary chromium supplementation. J Nutr. 1978 Feb; 108(2): 321-328.
16. Trent LK, Thieding-Cancel D Effects of chromium picolinate on body composition. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1995 Dec;35(4):273-280
17. Saggerson ED, et al. Insulin-like actions of nickel and other transition-metal ions in rat fat-cells. Biochem J. 1976 Feb 15; 154(2): 349-357.
18. Ritz E, et al. Phosphate, calcium and lipid metabolism. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1980; 128: 197-208.
Be careful with these supplements:
Taking DHEA for too long can cause muscle burning and result in reduced fat burning at rest.
Bioflavonoids from nuts and red clover and such as Hesperetin, Quercetin and Fisetin, can inhibit fat burning already initiated by some reason, by e.g. by exercise.
Microelements Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, and (to a lesser extent) Magnezium , decreased stimulated fat burning in rat fat cells, and also considerably stimulated glucose incorporation into fat-cell lipids. These effects pretty much resembled those of insulin.
Similar effects can have excess of vitamins C, D, and K
Here's a brief overview of most possible reasons for hitting the plateau and brief advice on solutions.
Check out your inches loss.
If you are still losing inches, especially around your waist line, you don't hit your plateau at all.
You may be losing fat but gaining muscle mass.
Watch your body fat percent rather than body weight.
You had been losing fat too fast before you stalled.
Slow down. Eat more, specifically, eat more fat. Experiments have recently shown that after a certain level of fat loss is achieved, the fat tissue reduces the rate of fat burning. Let it pass and start all over again.
You may be eating too little fat
Higher proportion of fats in your diet will increase ketone body levels, which in its turn will reduce your appetite.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega-3 family, including fish oil, help in the work of fat burning enzymes.
You may be exercising too much
Though this is the last thing one suspects, it's more common than dieters think. You might be exercising too much.
Reduce your aerobic workout and include non-aerobic exercises in your routine.
A high aerobic fitness level is associated with a lower resting rate of fat burning and a lower production and utilisation of free fatty acids at rest.
You may be spending too little energy.
Finally, the most known reason. You might be spending too little energy beyound exercises. Move around more between exercises.
You may be doing wrong exercises
Resting fat burning is markedly increased in people involved in strenuous endurance training.
Adding more lean mass to your frame will also help you burn more calories at rest, so do your weights!
Keep your exercises challenging. A better fitness level causes a significant increase in the fat burning response in fat tissue towards adrenal hormones.
You may be too stressed out
Learn relaxation techniques. Learn how to improve your sleep quality.
Stress hormones were shown to slow down fat burning in the long run. Growth hormone, one of the most potent fat burners, is being released into the blood during sleep. You might also reduce your protein intake to help growth hormone releasing.
You might be having too calorie-dense food
Choose the least calorie dense foods and add more fiber. Calorie density is how many calories there is in a gram of food. The less the better. Calorie dense foods move faster through the stomach and intestines and result in lesser satiety.
You might be having too carbohydrate-rich food
Choose food with low glycemic index and containing less carb grams per food weight unit.
Not only how much energy but also how much carbohydrate there's in a gram of food can influence your weight. With carbs, it is also important how fast they can be digested, how much and how soon
Foods with higher glycemic index cause higher insulin level and therefore fat storing versus fat burning. They also decrease concentration of leptin in the blood and leptin is the major player in weight plateau game. Less leptin was shown to associate with more fat cells' number and size.
You might be having hidden carbs
Remember that there's no free carbs!
Count ALL carbs, including those in cheeses, cream, artificial sweeteners. Pay attention to these ingredients on nutrition information labels, they all contain carbs:
Isomalt
Lactitol
Maltitol
Mannitol
Sorbitol
Xylitol
You might be not having enough nutrients
See if you are having enough of these nutrients:
DHEA, omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA,) nicotinic acid (a B-group vitamin) - all these supplements were shown to help fat burning. Vitamin D deficiency can inhibit fat burning enzymes. Chromium , though no fat burner, can help in our particular case, low carb diets, by improving insulin sensitivity.
Tannic acid, which is abundant in teas, can inhibit fat depositing in adipose (fat) tissue. Besides, green tea works as a good natural "carb blocker". French clinical studies showed that8 grams of green tee extract a day resulted in greater weight loss than similar control diet.
You might be having wrong supplements
Supplements make up the greatest part of the super-profitable weight loss industry. Are all dieters that use them just salespeople's victims? Some doctors just do not believe in them, while health concerned people are taking them religiously, preferring one brands over another, depending on their beliefs and the selling art skills of supplement distributors.
Meanwhile, the matter has nothing to do with beliefs because there are scientific facts about vitamins and their effects on weight loss.
Vitamin A
The fat burning can be greatly influenced by vitamin A. Adipose tissue from vitamin A-deficient animals showed an increased fat burning rate. That would be great news for any dieter, however, in Nature, increased fat burning means that the body is wasting its energy resources. On the other hand, excess vitamin A caused a decrease in fat burning, so think again when you are going to take a vitamin A pill. [1]
Vitamins of B-group
Believe it or not, fat burning can be dangerous when products of lipolysis begin to circulate in the blood threatening to settle in the blood vessels sometimes forming deadly clogs. Luckily, one of the B-family, Nicotinic acid, seems to be able to prevent this unwanted effect. It actually prevented the increase in free fatty acids concentration that occurred during exercise. Levels of free fatty acids during the nicotinic acid treatment were significantly lower than control values during both exercise and recovery after exercise. [2]
Although after administration of nicotinic acid adipose tissue fat burning increased, the released fatty acids were retained in adipose tissue. [3] This effect of nicotinic acid allows it's use it as a protective measure on the development and progression of cardiovascular disease. [4]
Another b-family member, Carnitin enhanced fat burning. [5]
Vitamin C
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) combined with Algae increased fat burning in a synergistic manner. [6] However, ascorbic acid decreases the lipolytic effect of stress as a result of its direct effect on fat (adipose) tissue [7]. It looks like vitamin C can help to increase fat burning at rest but it blunts the lipolysis already activated by stress through the emergency nervous system (sympathetic).
Here we come to a very interesting point that proves vitamins are principally different from drugs. A drug does always the same thing for you. If it is designed to decrease body temperature, for example, there's no way it will increase it in any circumstances. However, there is a class of biologically active substances that act depending on the body state. Their major purpose is to return a body function back to normal. They are adaptogenes. In this sense, vitamin C looks like an adaptogene, and so do some other vitamins as we'll see below.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D (or increased sensitivity to vitamin D) raises cholesterol levels. On the other hand, vitamin D2 acted to oppose stress-induced fat burning. [8, 9] It means that while working as a pro-lipolysis agent, vitamin D helps prevent a lipolysis from going too far. Doesn't it look like adaptogene again?
Vitamin E
Vitamin E so far is not known for its direct effect on fat burning, however, E-avitaminosis was shown to deteriorate the activity of the fat burning enzymes in the liver, skeletal muscles and kidneys. [10]. Alpha-tocopherol in rather high doses has been shown able to decrease fat burning activated by lack of oxygen, for example during anaesthesia [11], or after trauma [12], thus limiting the bad trauma-induced changes in metabolism. Adaptogene, isn't it?!
Vitamin K
Vitamin K is one more vitamin that protects against the unfavorable vasing lipolysis in the liver, skeletal muscles and kidneys. It was established that in rats with food K-avitaminosis, liver and skeletal muscle enzyme helping in the breakdown of lipids, lipase, was activated. The analogous changes in the activity of the test enzymes were discovered in animals given 'antivitamin' K -- pelentan. [10].
What kind of conclusion can be drawn out of these facts? Sorry guys, if you are looking for a magic bullet to dramatically increase fat burning, look somewhere else.
References
1. Ramachandran CK, et al. Metabolic potential of the adipose tissue of rats during hyper- and hypovitaminosis A. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1986 May; 182(1): 73-78.
2. Trost S, et al. The effect of substrate utilization, manipulated by nicotinic acid, on excess postexercise oxygen consumption. Int J Sports Med. 1997 Feb; 18(2): 83-88.
3. Wahlberg G, et al. Effects of nicotinic acid treatment on glyceride formation and lipolysis in adipose tissue of hyperlipidemic patients. Int J Clin Lab Res. 1993; 23(2): 88-94.
4. Ishikawa T. Nicotinic acid and derivatives for therapy of hyperlipoproteinemia. Nippon Rinsho. 1994 Dec; 52(12): 3292-3297.
5. Koldovsky O, et al. Developmental aspects of lipid metabolism. Physiol Res. 1995; 44(6): 353-356.
6. Nakagawa H. Effect of dietary algae on improvement of lipid metabolism in fish. Biomed Pharmacother. 1997; 51(8): 345-348.
7. Misekova D. Lincova D. Hynie S. The effect of ascorbic acid on adrenergic lipolysis. Sbornik Lekarsky. 94(1):55-62, 1993.
8. Fassina G, et al. Effect of vitamin D2 on hormone-stimulated lipolysis in vitro. Eur J Pharmacol. 1969 Feb; 5(3): 286-290.
9. Fassina G, et al. Antagonistic action of vitamin D2 on noradrenaline-induced lipolysis in vitro. J Pharm Pharmacol. 1967 May; 19(5): 344.
10. Lider VA. Tissue lipolytic activity with various vitamin K and E allowances in white rats. Vopr Pitan. 1985 Sep; 5: 37-39.
11. Camus G, et al. Tocopherol mobilization during dynamic exercise after beta-adrenergic blockade. Arch Int Physiol Biochim. 1990 Mar; 98(1): 121-126.
12. Abidova SS, et al.The efficacy of using alpha-tocopherol during ftorotan anesthesia. Eksp Klin Farmakol. 1996 Jul; 59(4): 3-4.
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 influendes 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].
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, carboxymethylcellulose, gum arabic, and pectin slow set) [11].
Two plant fibers have been shown to activate this kind of lipolysis. Eleven plant sources (avocado, walnut, pinenut, coconut, lupin, lentils, chickpea, mungbean, oats, castor beans and eggplant) were screened for lipolytic activity. Only two of the sources (castor bean and dehulled oats) showed significant lipolytic activity [12].
Looking beyound 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 muffine 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 undemanded.
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-unsupplemented 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 normailsing 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]
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 AV. Bogdanova SN. Pogozheva AV. Varsanovich EA. Abakumov AS. Effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega-3 family on the activity of lysosomal lipolytic enzymes. Voprosy Pitaniia. (5):17-21, 1993
14. Park Y, et al. Effect of conjugated linoleic acid on body composition in mice. Lipids. 1997 Aug; 32(8): 853-858.
15. O'Flaherty EJ, et al. Alterations of rat adipose tissue metabolism associated with dietary chromium supplementation. J Nutr. 1978 Feb; 108(2): 321-328.
16. Trent LK, Thieding-Cancel D Effects of chromium picolinate on body composition. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1995 Dec;35(4):273-280
17. Saggerson ED, et al. Insulin-like actions of nickel and other transition-metal ions in rat fat-cells. Biochem J. 1976 Feb 15; 154(2): 349-357.
18. Ritz E, et al. Phosphate, calcium and lipid metabolism. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1980; 128: 197-208.
Be careful with these supplements:
Taking DHEA for too long can cause muscle burning and result in reduced fat burning at rest.
Bioflavonoids from nuts and red clover and such as Hesperetin, Quercetin and Fisetin, can inhibit fat burning already initiated by some reason, by e.g. by exercise.
Microelements Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, and (to a lesser extent) Magnezium , decreased stimulated fat burning in rat fat cells, and also considerably stimulated glucose incorporation into fat-cell lipids. These effects pretty much resembled those of insulin.
Similar effects can have excess of vitamins C, D, and K
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