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Written by: Steve
Calechman
Learn the facts
on five of the most promising diet
supplements.
Most of us would love a pill to make extra
pounds melt away. No supplement can work
miracles, but nutrition and weight-loss
researchers say that some supplements can give
you a small advantage in the battle to be slim
(helping you lose about 2 to 3 pounds a month).
Here are the facts on five of the most promising
supplements. These supplements work best if you
also exercise, eat less, and deal with any
emotional reasons for your extra weight, our
experts say. You can combine them, but seek a
health care practitioner's advice before taking
green tea and ephedra supplements together, as
they are both high in caffeine.
Protein
How It Spurs Weight
Loss
Protein can reduce hunger (thereby decreasing
the calories you consume), help you preserve
muscle as you lose weight, and help your body
build more muscle, particularly if you include
strength training in your fitness routine, says
Richard Kreider, Ph.D., professor and chair of
the Department of Health, Human Performance, and
Recreation at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
Muscle burns more calories than fat and also
helps you look trimmer, Kreider says, so
strength training three times a week is a good
addition to any weight-loss program.
A six-month study of 65 overweight and obese
people published in 1999 in the International
Journal of Obesity compared two low-calorie
diets: one with 12 percent of calories from
protein (which mirrors the federal
recommendation for protein consumption) and one
with 25 percent of calories from protein. Those
who ate more protein lost more weight. The
subjects did not exercise.
You'll see weight-loss benefits by consuming
either protein-rich foods or shakes, but shakes
contain fewer calories and less fat than some
high-protein foods, and they're also convenient.
Kreider does not advise drastically reducing
your carbohydrate intake to eat more protein. He
recommends 30 to 40 percent protein, 35 to 45
percent carbohydrates, and no more than 30
percent fat.
The Results You Can
Expect
The 1999 study shows that you may lose about 3
pounds a month.
Effective Dose
Take 40 to 50 g of protein powder a day, in the
form of two shakes, and combine them with three
small meals, Kreider says. Drink one shake
mid-morning and another an hour before dinner,
which will control your appetite at common
craving times. To make sure you don't eat too
many calories, reduce portion sizes at meals by
a quarter to a third, Kreider says. This plan is
safe for long-term use, he adds.
To make a shake, mix 20 to 25 g of protein
powder and 12 ounces of water or milk. (Most
experts we consulted recommend whey powder, a
protein derived from milk, but if you're lactose
intolerant, try soy powder.) For flavor, add
some fruit, like a banana or a half-cup of
berries.
Cautions
Whey protein is tough for some people to digest.
If you experience cramping or bloating, try soy
protein.
Green
Tea
How It Spurs Weight
Loss
Green tea (Camellia sinensis)
increases your metabolism (the rate at which
you burn calories) and stimulates your
body's ability to burn fat, according to a
handful of human studies. Research shows
that the benefits come from an interaction
between caffeine and epigallocatechin
gallate (EGCG), a plant chemical in green
tea that triggers your production of the
metabolism-boosting, appetite-suppressing
hormone noradrenaline. A study published in
the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition gave 10 healthy men a green
tea supplement (that contained 90 mg of EGCG
and 50 mg of caffeine), 50 mg of caffeine,
or a placebo. The men ate a normal diet and
did not exercise. Only those who took the
green tea supplement experienced a
significant increase in calorie-burning
ability.
The Results You Can
Expect
Based on a study of obese people who took
green tea supplements, published earlier
this year in the journal Phytomedicine,
you may lose about 2 1/2 pounds a month.
Effective Dose
Take a standardized extract of green tea in
capsule or tablet form. Choose a supplement
that provides 90 mg of EGCG and 50 mg of
caffeine, and take it three times daily
before meals, says Shari Lieberman, Ph.D., a
nutrition scientist, exercise physiologist,
and author of Dare To Lose (Avery,
2002) based in Pompano, Fla., and New York
City. Drinking the tea may also help you
lose weight, but this has not yet been
studied.
Cautions
Green tea and green tea supplements are
safe; no known adverse effects have been
reported, but they may cause nervousness if
you're caffeine-sensitive.
Ephedra
How It Spurs Weight
Loss
Researchers say the herb ephedra (Ephedra
sinica), also known as ma-huang,
increases your metabolism (the rate at which
you burn calories) and reduces hunger.
Studies show that ephedra works somewhat
like green tea; ephedrine alkaloids in the
herb stimulate your body to release the
metabolism-boosting, appetite-suppressing
hormone noradrenaline. Ephedrine is usually
combined with caffeine to enhance these
effects.
But ephedra
is controversial. Critics called for its
banning after a 2000 report published in the
New England Journal of Medicine
linked ephedra to 43 cases of hypertension,
stroke, seizures, and heart attacks.
However, a new study conducted at the New
York Obesity Research Center in New York
City and at Harvard Medical School in Boston
looked at the supplement's effect on people
with healthy hearts and found that ephedra
is safe and effective when used in
recommended doses. The six-month
double-blind, placebo-controlled study,
published this year in the International
Journal of Obesity, involved 167
overweight people who were screened to
ensure they did not have heart problems.
Subjects who took 90 mg of ephedrine
alkaloids and 192 mg of caffeine daily
experienced weight loss without significant
adverse effects to their hearts. The
participants could eat what they wanted and
exercise moderately.
The Results You Can
Expect
Ephedra may help you lose about 1 1/2 pounds
a month.
Effective Dose
Do not take ephedra without the guidance of
a health care practitioner; you may have a
heart problem that has not been diagnosed.
Because the supplement formula used in the
most recent study is not available for sale,
Anthony Almada, a nutritional biochemist in
Laguna Niguel, Calif., recommends a more
conservative dose: Take a supplement that
provides ephedrine and caffeine in a 1 to 10
ratio, with 5 to 10 mg of ephedrine
alkaloids and 50 to 100 mg of caffeine once
a day for three days. If this dose does not
cause problems (like heart palpitations),
add a second daily dose. Do not take more
than 60 mg of ephedrine alkaloids a day, he
advises.
Cautions
Ephedra is a stimulant, so do not take it if
you have a history of heart disease, high
blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease,
prostate conditions, anxiety, or mental
illness. Don't use ephedra for longer than
six months; long-term effects have not yet
been studied, says Carol Boozer, D.Sc.,
director of the Energy Metabolism Lab at the
New York Obesity Research Center.
Fiber
How It Spurs Weight
Loss
Fiber allows you to eat less but still feel
satisfied, says Edward Saltzman, M.D.,
director of the Obesity Center at Tufts-New
England Medical Center in Boston. One type,
soluble fiber, slows the rate that food
passes to your small intestine, causing you
to feel full and eat fewer calories. And
insoluble fiber prevents overeating because
it requires a lot of chewing. A 2001 review
of 80 fiber studies published in
Nutritional Review found that subjects
(both overweight and normal weight) who
increased their fiber intake felt full
longer and ate an average of 10 percent
fewer calories than subjects who ate little
fiber. The subjects did not diet but some
exercised.
The review
showed that fiber supplements and fiber from
food were equally effective, but Saltzman
recommends you get more from food;
fiber-rich foods offer key nutrients and
require chewing.
The Results You Can
Expect
Raising your fiber intake to about 25 g a
day may help you lose about 1 pound a month.
Effective Dose
Take 4 g or more a day in supplement form.
Add additional fiber-rich foods to bring
your total to about 25 g. (For example, 1
cup of black beans contains 15 g and 3/4 cup
of bran flakes sup-plies 5 g.) Fiber
supplements made from psyllium husk are
commonly available. They're sold as capsules
or as a powder that you mix with water and
drink. Fiber supplements are safe for
long-term use. To prevent constipation, take
them with plenty of water.
Cautions
Add this additional fiber gradually over the
course of several weeks. Increasing your
intake too quickly can cause bloating,
diarrhea, and constipation.
Chromium
How It Spurs Weight
Loss
This essential mineral appears to change
your body composition by increasing the
effectiveness of the hormone insulin. If
your insulin works efficiently, your body
turns fewer calories into fat and more into
muscle, says Richard Anderson, Ph.D., lead
researcher at the Beltsville Human Nutrition
Research Center at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture in Beltsville, Md. The more
muscle you have, the more calories your body
burns. In an eight-week study of 83
overweight people presented at this year's
meeting of the American College of Sports
Medicine, half took 400 mcg of one of two
forms of chromium daily and the other half
took a placebo. Those who took plant-based
chromium supplements lost 3 pounds more body
fat than the placebo group, and those who
took chromium picolinate lost 1 1/2 pounds
more body fat than the placebo group. All
subjects ate less than usual and exercised.
Chromium does have detractors. Some
researchers question if insulin's
effectiveness really plays a role in weight
loss.
The Results You Can
Expect
You may lose about 1 pound a month.
Effective Dose
Take 400 mcg a day with food, divided in two
doses, for at least 12 weeks. Anderson says
this dose is safe for long-term use.
Cautions
Studies have not found chromium toxic in
these doses.
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