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Author: Jennifer
Date: 06-23-03 14:26
Anyone catch Oprah today. Learned something new. Fiber absorbs fat and allows it to pass through your body to be excreted. This prevents your body from absorbing the fat. Also you have to drink lots of water if you increase your fiber intake or you can become constipated.
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Author: Ken 324/323/315...18 days
Date: 06-23-03 14:32
you mean this stuff?
"Chitosan is a fiber derived from the exoskeletons of shellfish, insects and other invertebrates. It seems that most of the supply comes from shellfish, as a byproduct of processing.
Quite a few studies have been done on rats and chickens in regards to the fat-absorbing properties of chitosan. It appears that chitosan fiber, which essentially is a water-soluble derivative of cellulose, does absorb up to 10 times its weight in fat. Some studies have also shown that chitosan fiber helps lower total cholesterol levels, by increasing the excretion of cholesterol.
A bit worrisome are other studies that show that in addition to increasing excretion of fat and cholesterol, chitosan fiber also causes increased excretion of several minerals, including calcium, and quite possibly some fat-soluble vitamins such as Vitamin E. It does make sense that as part of dietary fat is made unavailable for absorption, some of the nutritional components associated with that fat are also unavailable.
My recommendation? Right now, there just aren't enough human studies to enable a definitive support of chitosan for either weight loss or cholesterol reduction. If you decide to try chitosan as a weight-loss aid, please do so under the guidance of your physician. Make sure you take a good multivitamin that contains minerals and fat-soluble vitamins at least four hours before or after taking chitosan to help avoid any nutrient deficiencies. Also be aware that if dietary fat is being excreted, you may have gastrointestinal side effects such as gas, bloating, diarrhea or fatty stools. "
Sincerely,
Lynn Grieger, R.D., C.D., C.D.E.
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Author: LindaV
Date: 06-23-03 14:45
I saw that, which is what prompted my post below about fiber intake.
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Author: LindaV
Date: 06-23-03 14:47
No, they were just talking about regular fiber that you get from high-fiber foods. I don't believe this Chitosan was mentioned.
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Author: Jennifer
Date: 06-23-03 15:35
Yeah like high fiber cereals that say we help to reduce cholesterol and oatmeal.
Things like that. But thanks for that info too
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Author: miranda 230/145/140
Date: 06-23-03 17:25
I've looked into this before, as I've been nagged by doctors into striving for a high-fiber diet (for reasons other than weight loss). I don't think that eating lots of fiber gets the fat out of your body before your intestines absorb most of it. Your intestines are extremely efficient, and they work quickly. I suspect that the effect is minimal, if any at all. If fiber did have a significant fat-blocking benefit, you'd be hearing a lot more about it (and I'm sure my nagging doctors would have mentioned it if they'd heard about it). For what anecdotal evidence is worth, I haven't seen any increased weight loss when my diet has been very high in fiber (sometimes 40 g or more per day--let's hear it for broccoli and All-Bran).
That's not to say that a high fiber diet isn't good for you--fiber is definitely good for you in a lot of ways, including, apparently, the good effect on cholesterol, making you feel fuller on fewer calories, and maybe even fighting colon cancer (big maybe right now), but a lot of fiber by itself is probably not going to help you lose weight any faster.
(As for chitosan, I'm including a link for another article which states that at this point it has not been shown to have any benefits for humans whatsoever. This is from the "3 Fat Chicks" site, which has very reliable info on weight loss supplements.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=108&op=
page&SubMenu=
)
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Author: GymMachine
Date: 06-24-03 06:12
i agree...humans and animals are very different....chitosan hasnt got enough weight behind it to be construed as a positive weight loss tool...as far as high fibre diets absorbing fat, the claim is rather silly...you cant block fat per se...you eat fat then you eat fat...you eat too many cals, then the extra will in the end be placed on your tush or wherever else as fat...high fibre diets are reccomended purely because they are healthy and are low glycemic meaning they keep you feeling fuller for longer, thus eating less cals throughout the day...oprah has her fat/skinny cycles regularly so i wouldnt take any evidence off her...how do they say 'the proof is in the pudding'...and whilst fibre is good for us, it really isnt a fat blocker although it does have other positive attributes which is where the information has been lost i believe.
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