Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) -Roger Mason

You've noticed we don't offer CLA on our website, nor is it ever suggested as a supplement in our books and articles. People like Dr. Mercola (www.mercola.com) are always pushing CLA as the Magic Weight Loss Supplement. They claim CLA improves body composition (muscle to fat ratio) and many other health benefits. Dr. David Williams is another one. He even wrote a report CLA: The Fat That Makes You Slim. This is crap folks. What is wrong with these people? Fat makes you slim? Why do so many hundreds of thousands of people blindly listen to rantings like this?  
 
CLA useless for losing weight. It is completely useless as a supplement. Who else on this earth has told you that? Who else exposes this stuff? Actually it can make you worse! 
 
First of all, CLA is only found basically in dairy foods and red meat. Milk and dairy foods are THE most allergenic food group of all. Every single person over the age of three years old is lactose intolerant. (After the age of three we lose the ability to produce the enzyme lactase to digest lactose.) Doesn't it sound illogical that a valuable supplement would be found in the worst allergen known? Does it make sense to eat more fat to lose weight? It's fat that makes you fat in the first place. Food per se doesn't make you fat- fat makes you fat. How are you going to lose weight by hogging down even more fat? We Americans already eat an astounding 42% fat calories, and most all of this is saturated, artery-clogging animal fat. Like CLA. CLA is a saturated animal fat. 
 
Dr. Mercola tells women to eat cheese to protect themselves from breast cancer!!! If you'll look the article Eat, Cheat, and Lose Weight (under “E”) in our free library you'll see a chart proving that intake of animal fat is THE biggest cause of breast and other cancers. If you read the study he's referring to (Nutrition and Cancer, v. 38, 2000) the authors clearly state, “it is impossible to assess the independent effects of CLA in this study.” Roswell Park Cancer Institute (Cancer Epi. Bio. Prev. v. 13, 2004) did a study on over 3,000 women and found no relation at all between CLA intake and breast cancer rates. “CLA intake was not related to overall breast cancer risk”, was their conclusion. I guess old Mercola didn't see that one. Since CLA is only found in dairy products and red meat, it is contrary to all logic and reason to think that CLA will help with anything.  
 
Let's look at some real, published, international human studies that show CLA is not only ineffective for weight loss, but is actually harmful to your health. At Uppsala University (Diabetologica v. 47, 2004) obese men were given 3.4 g of CLA for 12 weeks. They came down with hyperproinsulinaenemia. Translation: their insulin sensitivity was impaired. This condition is a prelude to both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The authors concluded, “The use of weight loss supplements containing this fatty acid is worrying.” That's an understatement certainly.  
 
The nice Swedish gentlemen at Uppsala University followed up this study (Am. J. Clin. Nutr. v. 80, 2004). They gave obese men 3 g of CLA for 12 weeks. Insulin sensitivity decreased by 15%. There were no measurable changes in body composition whatsoever. Lipid peroxidation increased as well which means you have more chance of getting cardiovascular disease. They promise to do similar studies in women.  
 
At the University of Reading (Am. J. Clin Nutr. v. 80, 2004) some good English doctors gave healthy men CLA for eight weeks. This raised their total cholesterol as well as their triglyceride levels. CLA is a great way to get cardiovascular disease. Of course they neither lost weight nor improved their lean muscle to fat ratio.  
 
CLA is not going to help you lose weight, won't increase your muscle mass or decrease your fat mass, and will predispose you to both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Anyone who tells you otherwise is delusional.

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