Sunday, October 26, 2008

Ephedra Is Not The Best Thermogenic for Weight Loss

Ephedra is taken to make heat production by the body easier, and this very recent study reveals that making heat production more difficult
is much better for your body to lose weight.


Like water can be found as ice and liquid water, energy in our body is stored in chemical molecules or released as heat, both are 2 different forms of the the same material.The energy needed by our bodies comes from the food we eat. After energy is extracted from food, it is consumed as follows:

- Excreted as fecal energy
- Execreted through the urinary system
- Available for the body for cellular reproduction, growth (especially in children), or work as muscle movement
- Stored mostly as fat
- Consumed by the body to heat up the internal organs (the largest part)


Heat production induced by diet, is performed by the Brown Fat Tissue which is triggered by the sympatheic nervous system. This is why Ephedra was used because it may increase thermogenesis (heat production) as it contains the sympathomimetic amine Ephedrine, and as a result it induces weight loss.


In this new study, rats were induced to use an alternate mechanism to produce heat, i.e. the white fat tissue. The result was that the rats were more resistant to obesity and were adapted to the change in temperature by retaining the alternative pathway.


Read the details...
Making Metabolism More Inefficient Can Reduce Obesity


Source : Science Daily


American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology