Dietary Supplements, Weight Loss, and Diabetes Control: What’s Hot, What Works

This Healthy Eating article helps you make sense about ingredients and food products that claim to help with weight loss, which can be an important part of your diabetes control plan. It’s designed to help you answer the following questions:

• How are weight loss ingredients and products regulated?
• Are there any criteria you can use to evaluate the claims made for weight loss supplements and food products?
• Are any supplements potentially helpful?

If It Sounds Too Good to Be True … It Probably Is

Snake oil is easy to recognize, so how is it that companies can sell products with such outrageous claims? The answer is that dietary supplements are not as highly regulated as drugs or even foods.

You would be well advised to steer clear of those products making any of the following claims:

• Causes weight loss of one kilogram or more a week for a month, or more without dieting or exercise
• Causes substantial weight loss, no matter what or how much the consumer eats
• Causes permanent weight loss (even when the consumer stops using the product)
• Blocks the absorption of fat or calories to help consumers lose substantial weight
• Safely enables consumers to lose more than 1 1/2 kilograms a week for more than four weeks
• Causes substantial weight loss for all users
• Causes substantial weight loss by wearing it on the body or rubbing it in the skin

Ideas in the Pipeline

On the other hand, some companies are searching for legitimate products to help people lose weight. Here are some product and ingredient ideas that could be helpful:

• Those that can help people get the best weight loss results when they follow a weight loss plan of diet and physical activity
• Those that can boost the amount of weight that’s lost as body fat and help dieters keep lean body tissue while they lose fat tissue
• Those that may safely speed up the way we burn fat for energy without increasing blood pressure or heart rate

Regardless of their promises and claims, you shouldn’t use dietary supplements or food products without first consulting your doctor or diabetes health care team.

What’s on the Shelf Now

Here are some ingredients you may see in dietary supplements or food products that already have some legitimate research behind them. However, be advised that the research isn’t always conclusive.

• Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a fatty acid made from linoleic acid, which comes primarily from meat and dairy foods. A brand name of this ingredient is Tonalin™, which has been available as a dietary supplement for a few years and is now available in some food products such as meal replacement bars and shakes. A number of scientific studies show that CLA reduces body fat without weight loss. However, other studies show no weight loss with CLA.
• Guar gum is a dietary fiber that may help a person feel full longer because it swells in the stomach and small intestine and slows the absorption of nutrients after a meal. This could be especially important for people with diabetes because slowing the absorption of nutrients from the intestinal tract into the bloodstream slows post-meal blood sugar and insulin levels. Theoretically, this evens out the blood sugar highs and lows that otherwise might trigger feelings of hunger and cause unplanned between-meal snacking.
• Chromium picolinate is a special form of chromium, an essential mineral. Chromium has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in some people with diabetes, but its effects on weight loss have been less positive. Studies show that weight reduction with chromium picolinate is low, but its effect on insulin sensitivity holds promise for people with diabetes.
• Hydroxycitric acid (HCA) comes from extracts of an herb called Garcinia cambogia. HCA is thought to work because it helps in suppressing fat synthesis and controlling appetite. Some scientific studies show weight loss when HCA is used along with a reduced-calorie diet, but other studies have not shown weight loss. The final vote is not in.

The Bottom Line

Research is still underway on these products and many others that might improve weight loss efforts. And much more research needs to be done. Nothing will take the place of reducing calories and increasing physical activity, but there may be ingredients or products in the future that make it a little easier by helping to control appetite or helping to maximize body fat loss during weight loss.

Your Turn

Do you use any dietary supplements to help you lose weight?

If yes, write them down.

Take this list with you when you visit your doctor or diabetes team and ask them to help you evaluate the supplements and advise you on whether you should continue using them.

Summary

• Thoroughly investigate claims for dietary supplements and food products you might consider using.
• There are no magic bullets that will let you lose weight without changing behavior and eating habits.
• Check in with your doctor or diabetes health care team before adding a supplement to your program.
• While there are some interesting developments about ingredients and products on the horizon, the evidence is still not strong enough to suggest that anything is better than reduced-calorie diets and increased physical activity for losing weight safely and effectively as part of your diabetes control plan.