Does Chitosan Work For Weight Loss?

For years, the public has worried about the intake of fat from items such as those good fatty meals you enjoy from McDonald’s, KFC, or those bags of chips, an ice cream cone, or a candy bar. The public has even almost obsessed over weight, figures and fat. Well, with all the hype you hear and see about diet pills, diet programs, or anything related to diet, who wouldn’t jump at the idea of an all natural solution? Yes, you heard me right – all-natural! The makers of this latest diet craze has done their share of work to create an image that is truly appealing to any and all that dream of losing that extra cholesterol and fat in your body. The most well-known solution is none other than chitosan.

What is Chitosan?

Chitosan is simply a fat inhibitor which appears to work miracles for those who are in search of a safe way to lose body fat. This simple substance has actually been around for ages. It is derived from chitin, a polysaccharide found in the shells of the crustaceans, such as shrimps, lobsters and crabs.

How Chitosan Works?

Several questions were actually raised considering the claims that chitosan is effective for weight loss. One of those is how does chitosan work for weight loss? The allegations of how does chitosan work are as follows.

Essentially, chitosan is a special fiber which works to soak up or absorb anywhere from six to ten times its weight in fat and oils. If we will consider its nature chemically, chitosan appears similar to the plant fiber known as cellulose. However, how does chitosan work for weight loss highly differs as to how cellulose functions on the body. The makers of chitosan commonly claim that this special substance significantly bind with the fat molecules and convert them into a form which the human body does not absorb.

How does chitosan work depends on the idea that chitosan affects the fat before it reaches the stomach and absorb in the body. The fat then has no chance to be metabolized. Also, the answer to the how does chitosan work for weight loss lies on the notion that this special fiber prevents the absorption as well as storage of fat by way of converting it into a form of gel which traps or blocks the fat. In some way, chitosan creates a “grease ball” from this excess amount of fat, which then appears to be too large to be absorbed by the body. The “complexed” fat then becomes an inert substance and is excreted in the stool.

It is further interesting to know that the answer to how does chitosan work for weight loss lies on the claims that unlike the other forms of fiber, the chitosan carries a positive ionic charge. Since the fats, liquids and bile acids all possess negative charges, there is then a chemical bond between the two and thus they attract naturally to one another. This is basically the reason that chitosan is now highly deemed as the “fat magnet”.

However, whether chitosan is safe or effective as a dietary supplement remains controversial. Some studies were actually conducted to find out how does chitosan work for weight loss, but none of those studies have revealed reliable evidences so far. Thus the research continues.