Can Herbs Aid Weight Loss? Live Leaner and Longer
(Page 6 of 9)
January/February 2007
By Linda B. White, M.D.
Calorie-Burning Herbs?
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Thermogenesis means generating heat. The body heats itself by expending energy and burning calories. Thermogenic substances favor the conversion of food into heat rather than fat. Examples of such substances include plants that contain stimulant alkaloids, such as caffeine, ephedrine and synephrine. The latter two chemicals also may reduce food intake. Coffee, black and green tea (Camellia sinensis), guarana (Paullinia cupana) and yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis) all contain caffeine. Ephedra, also known as ma huang (Ephedra sinica), contains alkaloids, such as ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Bitter orange (Citrus ×aurantium) contains synephrine and octopamine. Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), ginger (Zingiber officinale), garlic (Allium sativum) and cayenne (Capsicum annuum) improve circulation and safely warm the body, Mars says.
Green tea stimulates fat breakdown.
While research suggests that these alkaloids can improve weight loss, they also stimulate the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems. In excess, they can cause jitteriness, insomnia, upset stomach, palpitations, rapid heart rate and elevated blood pressure. As in the case of ephedra, they can even trigger heart attacks, seizures and strokes. Such adverse events caused the FDA to remove ephedra from the market in 2004. For centuries, Asian healers have safely used this herb in low dosages in herbal blends to treat respiratory ailments. “Used judiciously,” Yarnell says, “it is a wonderful herb for allergies and cold symptoms.”
Adverse effects cropped up when Westerners, zealous for weight loss and physical endurance, began consuming ephedra in higher doses and in combination with other stimulants, such as caffeine, and decongestants, such as pseudoephedrine. Although ephedra alkaloids can augment weight loss, misuse can cause serious problems. As Mars puts it, “Ephedra works. The problem came in using it as a pharmaceutical.”
Lately, bitter orange has taken ephedra’s place in popular weight-loss supplements. Also known as Seville orange, the fruit of this spiny evergreen tree is used to make marmalade, the liqueurs Triple Sec and curaçao, and orange flower water. It yields neroli and bergamot, essential oils prized by aromatherapists and perfumers. Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners call it zhi shi and use it for gastrointestinal ailments.
Bitter orange contains synephrine and optopamine, weaker chemical cousins to ephedrine and adrenaline (also known as epinephrine) and norepinephrine, which are manufactured by the body. A pharmaceutical derivation of synephrine, phenylephrine (Neosynephrine) is used to treat nasal congestion and low blood pressure.
A recent review of the research on bitter orange extracts for weight loss, published in Obesity Reviews in 2006, labeled the preliminary evidence “promising” and called for further investigation. Of the four studies demonstrating significant weight loss, all were of short duration (two to six weeks) and used small numbers of volunteers (nine to 30 people). None tested bitter orange alone. Rather, bitter orange extract was variously combined with caffeine, guarana, ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) and ephedra. Effects of these products on heart rate and blood pressure were mixed.
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