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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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23.11.2010 |
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Take 8 mg fucoxanthin and burn 457 kcal extra a day
A carotene found in nearly all edible brown seaweed is fucoxanthin [structural formula shown below]. On the web you’ll come across the compound in slimming supplements like FucoThin. They work, and impressively – if we are to believe the researchers at the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences in Moscow.
The researchers did tests using pure fucoxanthin, and Xanthigen, a mixture of fucoxanthin and pomegranate oil patented by the American National Bioscience Corporation. The National Bioscience Corporation promotes Russian research on active substances in plants. The company also manufactures the slimming supplement Aralox. [remedium.ru May 2005]
The researchers put 151 obese women on a 16-week diet of 1800 kcal per day, and gave the women either a placebo or supplements. At the end of the experiment, the Xanthigen users had lost 4.9 kg more than the women in the placebo group.
When we surfed the web for more information we came across a page about fucoxanthin on healthfoodemporium.com. Looks like it was written by the makers of Xanthigen. [Link] On the page we read that the women in the Russian experiment lost 5.4 kg fat mass. That means they gained an average of 0.5 kg lean body mass.
Hmm.
The researchers tested a whole series of supplements. The tests using pure fucoxanthin are the most interesting in our view. The table below shows that the women who took 8 mg fucoxanthin every day burned at least 457 kcal per day more than the women in the placebo group. Makes you wonder what the change in body composition was in this group…
According to the Russians, there were no side effects. The fucoxanthin users’ livers did not become fattier; their blood pressure went down, as did the concentration of the inflammatory protein CRP.
Believable? Or not? We remain sceptical…. we always are if a slimming aid performs as well as clenbuterol.
Oh yes. The second author of the study is Zakir Ramazanov. And he’s the founder of the National Bioscience Corporation.
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