Are there all natural supplements to speed metabolism and weight loss?

There are plenty of natural supplements that promise to help you lose weight -- but are they safe and effective? Nutrition and weight management specialist Caroline Apovian, MD, talks about what researchers know so far.

Transcript

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Even if a natural substance is safe, the next question you have to ask, is it actually effective?

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That's an interesting question, the question about other natural substances for weight loss.

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The problem with natural substances is that many research institutions don't do studies on these substances, at least

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long term, because these studies are very expensive to do. In the studies that have been done,

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there have been some side effects regarding natural substances like garcinia, for example,

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or chitosan for weight loss. Chitosan is a substance, for example, that can bind fat that you ingest from being absorbed.

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And so you malabsorb some of the fat. Chitosan is safe, however, there's another product on the market called

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orlistat which is actually more effective than chitosan to bind fat.

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And so even if a natural substance is safe, the next question you have to ask, is it actually effective?

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So we look at safety and effectiveness for natural substances. And of course, the first thing we want to make sure of

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is that these substances are safe. And I can tell you that while some are safe, we really need to do longer term studies.