After all this talk recently about conjugate linoleic acid (CLA) in health articles, magazines, and shows like Dr. Oz I decided to do some research and find out if it's a type of supplement I would be interested in trying. I was very surprised at the plethora of studies and reported health benefits I found!
CLA is a naturally occurring acid found in meat and dairy products known for its anti-cancer and immune modulatory properties. The most promising science around CLA concerns its effect on weight management. Many of these studies vary widely in dosage, subjects, and duration, but have very positive results. A few studies I came across reported that CLA can up-regulate the tumor suppressor gene PTPRG and has been proven to have anticancer properties. Also, studies on mice and rats show encouraging results in hindering the growth of tumors in mammary, skin, and colon tissues.
In 2012, and in collaboration with the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepathology at University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the Wake Forest Medical Center, researchers found that Crohn's patients who took supplementary CLA showed noticeable improvement. "In our recent open label study of CLA as a supplement in study subjects with mild to moderate CD there was a marked improvement in disease activity and quality of life in 50% of the subjects. CLA was well tolerated by all of the study subjects. These findings are very encouraging and will need to be verified in a randomized controlled trial," said Professor Kim L. Isaacs, a Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"The validation of the anti-inflammatory actions of CLA in the gut is in line with our goal because CLA is a natural fatty acid found in milk and ruminant products. The fully integrated bioinformatics, nutrition and immunology experimentation capabilities of NIMML enable the acceleration of translational biomedical research from computational and mathematical modeling into the clinic. CLA is an example of an anti-inflammatory compound in a pipeline of naturally occurring and synthetic compounds (e.g., abscisic acid, eleostearic acid, terephthalanilides) with tremendous therapeutic and prophylactic potential as anti-inflammatories," said Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera, a Professor of Immunology, principal investigator of this human clinical trial, and the Director of the NIMML and the Center for Modeling Immunity to Enteric Pathogens.
Wikepedia has many of these research articles listed and further summarizes some of these studies findings. My question to you is, have you ever taken CLA as a supplement, or would it be something you would trust taking as an aid in losing weight or any of it's other claimed health benefits?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900711003509
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120319194215.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjugated_linoleic_acid#cite_note-Amaru-13
I think that is important to keep in mind that any kind of acid/protein/vitamin etc. is in a different form and digested in a different manner if it is taken as it naturally occurs foods vs. taking it as a synthesized supplement. That being said, I think it is fair to say that their could be different results if CLA is taken strictly as a supplement or gained from the foods that you are eating. Another thing is the importance of moderation. Just taking CLA supplements excessively or over doing the dairies (and especially meats) may not yield the results that people on a diet are looking for. That being said, I think that people need to remember the importance of a balanced diet (perhaps with SMALL side of CLA supplements).
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