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What better way to lose body fat than to simply make it disappear? This is the promise of liposuction and, in fact, it does deliver somewhat as liposuction is one of the most effective ways to decrease body fat. But it has some serious problems to overcome before it becomes everyone's favorite way to lose body fat.
The good thing about liposuction is that it basically takes fat out of the metabolic equation. You don't have to worry about the calories in that fat since it's physically removed. Up to now any other method of losing body fat has involved increasing the calorie deficit by either exercising or dieting, and usually both, so that the fat is burned as fuel to make up the calorie deficit.
But liposuction has its problems. First of all liposuction is a surgical procedure and like all surgery, it carries inherent morbidity and mortality risks - you can get sick and even die from the surgical procedure alone. Also liposuction is best used for small problem areas. In fact it doesn't do that good a job on large areas since it can leave the areas looking lumpy and uneven. And doing large areas carries much more risk. And last of all liposuction doesn't just suck out your body fat, it can also suck your wallet dry.
Wouldn't it be much nicer if you could just take the fat out of the equation, the same way that liposuction does, but do it naturally? And wouldn't it also be nice if you could take the fat off in the problem areas and everywhere else at the same time, and not have to mortgage your house to do it?
Well now you can. There are products made to help you burn off fat more efficiently, as well as flush some of your it out of your body, just like liposuction does - so fat is completely out of the metabolic equation.
Some of these products contain a number of ingredient combinations including the Choline and Carnitine, and CLA and Guarana combos that can make some of your fat simply disappear. But unlike liposuction, these products can do it in the problem areas and also evenly all over your body, leaving you with an aesthetic looking body with just the right look.
Choline and carnitine are commonly used nutritional supplements, usually used alone or in combination and typically for the purposes of fat loss. Carnitine is essential for fatty acid transport and proper muscle function, and some studies have shown that carnitine supplementation improves exercise performance. Choline is a lipotropic agent that prevents deposition of fat in the liver. It is an essential nutrient for humans by giving cell membranes structural strength and providing structure to cell membranes and is involved in the signaling across this membrane as well as synthesis and release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Like carnitine, choline supplementation may also improve physical performance.
Choline is the major source of methyl-groups in the diet (one of choline's metabolites, betaine, participates in the methylation of homocysteine to form methionine).
The possible synergistic interaction between carnitine and choline has been known for several years. A study on rats published a few years ago clearly showed that choline in combination with caffeine plus carnitine resulted in a significant conservation of carnitine and augmented exercise performance and promoted fatty acid oxidation as well as disposal in urine. As well, the use of the three supplements resulted in two other beneficial effects, a decrease in blood triglycerides and an increase in the triglyceride content of skeletal muscles. Since muscle fat is used to supply energy to exercising muscles, and actually increases muscle size, much like glycogen, this is a whole different thing to increasing fat in subcutaneous skin and other fatty areas of the body. The increase in intramuscular fat also helps endurance and recovery and would be useful on any diet. But there's more to the story. A recent study has shown that choline and carnitine supplementation with or without exercise alters carnitine status, body fat and biochemical markers of fat oxidation in humans.
In this study nineteen women were placed in three groups:
There were several interesting results of this study outlining the effects of choline, and choline plus carnitine supplementation. Without going into all the details the study showed that the choline-induced decrease in serum and urinary carnitine is buffered by carnitine preloading, and these supplements shift tissue partitioning of carnitine that favors fat mobilization, incomplete oxidation of fatty acids and disposal of their carbons in urine as acylcarnitines in humans. Flushing out fat in the urine has another interesting and useful effect for those trying to lose body fat. Flushing out fat in the form of acylcarnitines acts as an osmotic diuretic and increases urine flow, in some people more than others.
The bottom line is that choline and carnitine supplementation increased fat loss by both increasing the breakdown and burning of body fat and, interestingly enough, actually flushing fat (in the form of acylcarnitines, which are actually chunks of fatty acids combined with carnitine) into the urine and out of the body. In this latter action, it's as close as you can get to being the nutritional supplement equivalent of liposuction!
This combo has been shown to not only decrease the size of fat cells but also to decrease cell number. Both CLA and guarana have been shown to increase weight and fat loss and improve body composition. For example, studies in mice fed CLA showed a marked reduction in body fat and an increase in body protein levels. Other animal studies demonstrated similar or even better results. But CLA has marked effects in humans as well. A study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that those who were given CLA for a four week period had significant decreases in abdominal fat. As well, a recent study concluded that long term CLA supplementation not only helps to decrease body fat but also helps to maintain weight loss in the long term.
Even more revealing, however, is the synergism shown by the combination of guarana (from a plant found in the Amazon and used for its effects on decreasing appetite and increasing weight loss) and CLA. While studies have shown that CLA can reduce the volume of fat cells, in one study two groups of mice given CLA or CLA plus guarana had a significant reduction in fat mass. However, the group of mice that were fed the CLA/guarana combination not only showed a decrease in the size of the fat cells but also a decrease in the number of fat cells (FASEB Journal, v. 16, no. 5, pt. I; March 22, 2002). References
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