CLA stimulates fat breakdown – particularly during sleep

Such findings provide further insight into CLA’s physiologic mechanism, examining how it is able to help reduce body fat, maintain lean body mass and prevent weight regain, as demonstrated in earlier clinical studies.

24/09/07 A new study just published in the prestigious American Journal of Clinical Nutrition1 shows that conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) reduces body fat mass by stimulating fat breakdown and fat burning (fat oxidation) during sleep. Furthermore, the results showed that the percentage of energy from protein utilization was reduced compared to placebo, which supports CLA’s benefits in protecting and maintaining lean body mass, especially skeletal muscle. The results were particularly significant during night-time, with indications of a similar trend during waking hours. The study was conducted using Cognis Tonalin CLA derived from natural safflower oil, the most clinically tested CLA on the market. Such findings provide further insight into CLA’s physiologic mechanism, examining how it is able to help reduce body fat, maintain lean body mass and prevent weight regain, as demonstrated in earlier clinical studies.

“Our main study results showed that supplementation with CLA for six months was associated with a significant decrease in body weight,” commented Prof. Dale Schoeller, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, senior author of the study. “This further substudy suggests that the mechanism responsible for the CLA-related loss in body fat is at least partially due to increased fat oxidation during sleep,” he said. The research also showed that the group taking CLA was less dependent on and utilized fewer carbohydrates at night-time than those not taking CLA, resulting in a lower respiratory quotient - an indication that the body is burning fat rather than carbohydrate for energy. The substudy involved 19 overweight adults (mostly women), aged 18-44 with a body mass index of 25-30, who were participating in the larger six-month study previously reported in the International Journal of Obesity. The main study confirmed that Tonalin  CLA helps decrease body fat mass, maintain lean body mass and prevent weight and fat regain even during the winter months - a time especially problematic for people who are already overweight.

The University of Wisconsin study is the first to use the criterion of ‘four-compartment body composition’ to more accurately reflect changes in body composition by combining several precise and well-accepted methods. For this substudy, subjects stayed overnight in the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) respiratory chamber, before the start of CLA supplementation and again after six months of taking Tonalin  CLA.  This enabled the researchers to measure macronutrient utilization, energy expenditure, oxygen consumption and urinary nitrogen concentrations. All those taking part also followed a tailored, 3-day lead-in diet and recorded their food intake before and during their stay at the GCRC.

According to Doris Bell, PhD, of Cognis, leading the company’s global research program on Tonalin  CLA: “We have invested a significant amount into research to investigate CLA’s modes of action and are pleased that this is showing worthwhile results. To demonstrate that CLA stimulates and enhances fat breakdown in the human body is a complex task and required a highly sophisticated and specialized laboratory. Utilizing more fat for energy will help to reduce excess adipose tissue, which means Tonalin  CLA is beneficial in any kind of weight management program. Furthermore, we see that the utilization of protein for energy is reduced and CLA protects the valuable muscle protein from breakdown – an important issue during dieting or general exercise activity.”

The results of this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study support a growing body of CLA research, including that of Dr. Jean-Michael Gaullier whose long-term studies revealed that Tonalin  CLA reduces body fat mass in overweight but otherwise healthy adults by as much as nine percent. The two-year study showed that taking CLA also helped participants to keep off the fat they had lost, helping to prevent weight regain (the so-called “yo-yo” effect). The increasing amount of scientific research on CLA, the way in which it improves body composition and the most recent studies on its other health benefits were discussed at the 2nd International Congress on CLA in Italy this week (19-22 September).