Chuppet, I moved your post to the Nutrition & Supplements forum (now that we have one
).
Lionoleic Acid (LA ) is a fatty acid that is found in dairy and beef. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is an isomer of LA - which refers to a slight rearrangement of the molecular structure (conjugation) - resulting in a fatty acid with altered chemical functions.
CLA has been tested and found to:
- Build muscle
- Burn fat
- Increase thermogenesis (calorie expenditure)
- Fight cancer
- to be a powerful antioxidant
Two recent studies have shown that CLA supplementation (3-4 grams/day) promotes a loss of body fat (2-4 lbs. extra in overweight subjects over 12 weeks) and reduces abdominal fat (by about 1 inch) in obese men.
Supplementwatch.com reports that no adverse side effects have been reported with CLA supplementation - but at least one of the more recent human trials reported that about 30% of subjects reported gastrointestinal symptoms associated with recommended doses (3-5 grams/day).
I have been using CLA daily (4-5g) since May 2002 and I can't find anything negative to say about it - other than it's a little expensive.
One caveat to all this: most of the studies showing a positive effect of CLA have used the TonalinTM brand of CLA (a 50/50 blend of the cis-9/trans-11 and trans-10/cis-12 isomers) this is the one it is recommended you use. If it doesn't say "Tonalin" you may be wasting your money.
HTH
Nat