Are Carb Blockers All That They Are Cracked Up to Be
June 16, 2009
We all feel the pressure from society to have a slim, attractive body. Most people go about getting that desired figure by dieting and exercising. But often the process is difficult and it takes too long to see results.
Then you come across products such as carb blockers or fat blockers in the store or on the internet. And you are left wondering what they do and if they really work.
Carb blocker supplements get their active ingredient from sources such as white kidney beans or wheat germ. The ingredient that is derived from these sources claims that it can block carbohydrates from being converted into sugar and eventually fat because they are able to stop a digestive enzyme known as alpha amylase from breaking the carbohydrates down.
Presumably these carb blocker products are able to stop up to 45 grams of carbohydrates from being absorbed by the body and converted into sugar. Sound like something worth trying, eh! When these carb blocker products first came onto the market in the 1980’s, those that tried the pills experienced uncomfortable side effects associated with digestions such as gas, nausea, and loose bowel movements.
Plus, the pills were expensive. Studies performed by the FDA showed that the carb blocker supplements actually did not do what they claimed to do and did in fact cause these side effects. So they took the product off of the market.
Carb blocker products are once again finding their way back onto the shelves of pharmacies and supermarkets. Today, the price for a bottle of 120 pills is about $25. Much less than when they first came out on the market.
Twenty-five dollars may not seem like a lot of money but if the supplements don’t work, well then you just lost $25. The Mayo Clinic has performed studies on carb blocker products and concluded that while the extract from the white kidney bean does block carbohydrates, you would need to take a very high dose to see any real results.
Studies show that a person would need to take up to 6,000 milligrams in order to see results and these high dosages are not available to the public. Most carb blocker supplements contain about 500 milligrams of the active ingredient.
As far as fat blocker pills go, they are even more dangerous. The primary ingredient in fat blockers is chitosan, which is similar to fiber but it comes primarily from shellfish.
The chitosan works similar to fiber in that the food consumed is quickly moved through the digestive system where it is then eliminated from the body in the form of waste. A study performed by a doctor at the University of California showed that chitosan did not have fat binding qualities but was responsible for raising “good” cholesterol.
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