The effect of the dietary supplement, Chitosan, on body weight: a randomised controlled trial in 250 overweight and obese adults

Abstract

CONTEXT: Chitosan, a deacetylated chitin, is a widely available dietary supplement purported to decrease body weight and serum lipids through gastrointestinal fat binding. Although evaluated in a number of trials, its efficacy remains in dispute. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of chitosan for weight loss in overweight and obese adults. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 3 g chitosan/day (n ¼ 125) or placebo (n ¼ 125). All participants received standardised dietary and lifestyle advice for weight loss. Adherence was monitored by capsule counts. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was change in body weight. Secondary outcomes included changes in body mass index, waist circumference, body fat percentage, blood pressure, serum lipids, plasma glucose, fat-soluble vitamins, faecal fat, and health-related quality of life. RESULTS:In an intention-to-treat analysis with the last observation carried forward, the chitosan group lost more body weight than the placebo group (mean (s.e.), À0.4 (0.2) kg (0.4% loss) vs þ 0.2 (0.2) kg (0.2% gain), P ¼ 0.03) during the 24-week intervention, but effects were small. Similar small changes occurred in circulating total and LDL cholesterol, and glucose (Po0.01). There were no significant differences between groups for any of the other measured outcomes. CONCLUSION: In this 24-week trial, chitosan treatment did not result in a clinically significant loss of body weight compared with placebo.

Tratamiento farmacológico o quirúrgico del paciente con sobrepeso u obesidad

“…Tampoco hay evidencia científica que apoye el uso de productos como spirulina, vinagre de manzana, ácido linoleico y centella asiática, entre otros compuestos. Un producto denominado "Chitosan", no ha mostrado diferencia en comparación con placebo en reducir la absorción de la grasa ingerida, en estudios controlados en humanos 27 , como tampoco han mostrado efectividad en el manejo de la obesidad substancias o fármacos que inhiben la absorción de hidratos de carbono como el inhibidor de alfa glucosidasa intestinal (acarbosa), o el inhibidor de la amilasa pancreática (faseolamina) 28 . En relación a los suplementos de fibra dietética, no existen estudios controlados que apoyen el uso de fibra dietaria como una alternativa eficaz en el tratamiento de la obesidad.…”

The Chitosan as Dietary Fiber: An in vitro Comparative Study of Interactions with Drug and Nutritional Substances

“…On the other hand, studies have shown that oral administration of chitosan has weak action on the reduction of triglyceride and plasma cholesterol in rabbits (Hirano & Akiyama, 1995). Other works have reported that the effect of chitosan on body weight is minimal and unlikely to be of clinical significance (Ni Mhurchu et al, 2004;Ni Mhurchu et al, 2005;Lois & Kumar, 2008, Jull et al, 2008, as well as that the fat trapped was clinically insignificant in studies with overweight adults treated with chitosan capsules before each meal (Pittler et al, 1999;Pittler & Ernst, 2004;Gades & Stern, 2005). Is well known that chitosan produces microenvironments with carriers and absorptive properties in acidic aqueous solution.…”

“…Chemically speaking, chitosan ( Figure 1) is a linear polysaccharide of 1→4)-linked-2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranose obtained by deacetylation of chitin, the main component of the exoskeleton of insects and crustaceans (Kumirska et al, 2010). It has many important properties, such as non-toxicity, biocompatibility, biodegradability, antimicrobial activity, chemical reactivity (Cummings et al, 2010), industrial applications (Hennen, 2005), as well as carrier for body fat (Ni Mhurchu et al, 2004;Ni Mhurchu et al, 2005;Jull et al, 2008;Lois & Kumar, 2008), cholesterol and triglyceride (Razdan & Petterson, 1994;Liu et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2008). Many mechanisms (Tapola et al, 2008;Prajapati, 2009) to explain the carriers and absorptive properties of microenvironment produced by chitosan in solution have been proposed.…”

Differential blood lipid-lowering effects of alkylsulfonated chitosan of different molecular weights in Syrian hamsters in vivo

“…Chitosan is chemically similar to cellulose. Previous studies have shown that chitosan and its oligomers display a variety of biological activities, including antitumor, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, antibacterial and eight control effects (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). The effectiveness of chitosan in lowering blood lipids and in body weight control allows it to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease (6)(7)(8).…”