Brown Algae Extract Reduces Body Fat Without Dieting or Exercise. Ecklonia Cava Polyphenols Help Shed Weight Even in The Presence of a Slight Caloric Surplus.

Image 1: If that were a peace of meat, I'd
say its roadkill, in the case of these
Ecklonia  cava algae the term "floatsam"
would probably be more  fitting,
though (photo by Nikemoto2511)

With obesity being among, if not the major promoter of all modern diseases, researchers around the world are constantly trying to find magic bullet against, a condition of which hardly anyone argues that it could not be prevented in 99.9% of the cases by diet and lifestyle changes, or even better, leading an active and healthy life from early childhood to old age, alone. Be that as it may, if the horse has already bolted, the help of a side effect free dietary supplement, to promote and accelerate the results of consistent life style interventions, would unquestionably come handy. In a recently published study (Shin. 2011) a polyphenol extract from Ecklonia cava, a brown algae that has long been used in traditional foodstuff and folk medicine in Asian countries, turned out to be a another potential candidate in the long list of natural diet aids in the arsenal of holistic medicine.

For 12 weeks, a group of 97 overweight (not obese; BMI 24-29kg/m²) Koreans (mean age 40.5yr) consumed a test liquid containing 0 g of fructose, 0.65 g of dextrin, 12mg of sucralose, 0.15 g of sodium chloride, 0.6 g of citric acid, 0.15 g of vitamin C and lemon flavor. Depending on which group (C, LD, HD) the respective subject had been assigned to, the content of the otherwise identical cans held had been enriched by 0mg (C), 72mg (LD) or 142mg (HD) of an Ecklonia cava extract with a total polyphenol content of 98.5% (measured in phloroglucinol equivalents). The subjects were adviced to consume the drink in between meals, but otherwise to maintain "their usual dietary intake and physical activity", so that any changes in antropometric measurements, dietary intakes and biochemical and hematologic parameters would be attributable to the Ecklonia cava polyphenol (ECP) supplementation.

Figure 1: Anthropometric changes in 97 overweight Koreans after 12 weeks of 0mg=control, 72mg=ECP(72) and 144mg=ECP(144) supplemtal Ecklonia cava polyphenols (data calculated based on Shin. 2011)

The anthropometric data taken after 12 weeks of supplementation makes it quite clear, that the polyphenols from the brown algae found in the ocean off Japan and Korea do in fact hold some potential as an adjunct to a well planned weight loss regimen. In that, two things are particularly intriguing:

1. In contrast to some other natural weight loss supplements (cf. yesterday's news on green tea extract), the dose response curve does not seem to flatten out. At least within the range that has been tested in this study, doubling the dosage even produced a 2.25-fold increase in body fat loss.
2. The polyphenol extract does not seem to work its magic by appetite suppression. As the data in figure 1 shows, the difference between calorie intake and estimated calorie expenditure did even rise by 4.7% and 5.5% in the ECP(72) and the ECP(144) group respectively (judged by the estimated calorie-expenditures both groups had a minimal caloric surplus of 79 and 106kcal).

If you also take into account that subjects in the ECP groups, "showed significant decreases in total cholesterol level after 12 weeks by 7.1% [ECP(72)] (p < 0.01) and 9.3% [ECP(144)] (p < 0.001), [...] significantly reduced serum total cholesterol levels (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively)" and 10.0% and 14.3% lower LDL and 8.6% and 13.3% higher HDL levels, the slimy sea food from the Far East does already appear more appetizing, doesn't it? To eat your way through >10kg of sea weed (this is what the yield of the extraction process described by Lo et al. (Lo. 2009) would suggest to be needed as "basis" of a high quality extract), would nevertheless be pretty hard, which is why I tend to think that this is one of the few cases, where you should prefer the highly processed over the unprocessed variety of a natural superfood.

As far as the mechanism of action, responsible for the highly appreciable effects on body composition, blood lipids and, at high doses, glucose management (-4.9% blood glucose in the ECP(144) group) are concerned the scientists are yet still in the dark:

The antidyslipidemic mechanism of the phlorotannins is not clear. Based on the moderate inhibition of cholesterol esterase (IC50 = ~100 μg/mL on porcine pancreatic cholesterol esterase, unpublished result) by ECP, inhibition of cholesterol absorption may partly contribute to this effect. Other mechanistic speculations include protection of liver function from chronic exposure to high‐fat or high‐glycemic diet. [...] In the present study, significant reduction was observed of serum ALT and AST levels in ECP‐supplemented groups compared with the placebo group. Therefore, based on its antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and hepatoprotective (Kim et al., 2005) activities, ECP might possibly contribute to normalization of blood lipids by
suppressing fat‐induced damage of liver tissue.

Be that as is may, as long as it entails small, but statistically significant, side-effect-free improvements in body-composition, lipid profile and glucose management, I doubt any overweight end-consumer will give a damn about the underlying molecular mechanisms which certainly won't make the necessary lifestyle changes obsolete, but could potentially multiply and accelerate their effects.

3x15g/Day E401, Sodium-Alginate, Increase Weight Loss and Reduction in Body Fat % on Mild Caloric Deficit by 30-40%! The GPA (Gut-Brain Axis) Makes it Possible.

Image 1: The small amounts of sodium-alginate, aka E401 many chocolates and commercially produced foods contain is obviously not enough to ward off obesity. Otherwise the obesity rates should have fallen not risen with the increase in crappy foods.

Aside from the ubiquitous stimulant based fatburners there is another class of weight loss supplements emerging as of late. Those of you who have read Adelfo's Thursday post, here at the SuppVersity, may have seen his plug for Myotropics' WM-HDP based "new Fat Burning Carbohydrate" ThermiCarb(TM). Now as hilarious as it may sound, this resistant starch is in fact as much of a "fat burner" as any of the 1001 currently available stims is. After all, none of those products actively burns fat. What still makes them effective, though, is their ability to shift substrate utilization away from glucose and towards fat, to curb appetite and to deliver the energy you need to do what it takes to shed body fat, i.e. to function normally while eating slightly less and working out.

Contrary to the good old (and certainly not obsolete) stims, these new "fat burners" act on the gut-brain axis, instead of HPA (the hypothalamus-pituatary-adrenal axis), by stimulating the release of a whole host of peptides from the gut. Among those, the  incretin hormones GLP-1 & co. (cf. "Eat More, Burn More and Lose Fat Like on Crack with GLP-1!?") are probably the best understood among these mis-understood "satiety hormones" with their profound  downstream effects on overall energy expenditure, glucose and fatty acid metabolism (Mudaliar. 2012). 

Is alginate, a polysaccharide from marine brown algae, a novel "fat burning fiber"?

Next to designer-starches such as WM-HDP there is also an increasing interest in the effects natural fiber / fiber extracts, such as the 15g alginate from brown algae the obese subjects (0–55y; BMI 30-45kg/m²) in a recent study from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark had to consume before each of their three meals in the course of a 12-week double-blind randomized parallel-intervention (Jenson. 2012), exert on the endocrine signals from your gut.

Image 2: Popsticles are not the only products containing sodium alginate (E401) as a thickener and stabilizer. If you take a closer look at the ingredients of the stuff in the supermarkets, you will notice that  many commercially produced low fat dairy products, ready made sauces, gravies, dressings, puddings, pies and pastry fillings contain it, as well.

What is alginate? Alginate is a gelling polysaccharide (gelling = it forms a gel which passes slowly through your digestive tract) that is extracted from marine brown algae. In seaweed the mannuronic and guluronic acid based components are responsible for the mechanical strength and flexibility. During the regular extraction process alginate is bound to sodium. The result, sodium alginate, has been used a E401 in various foodstuffs to stabilize, gel or viscosify it for years now (Brownlee. 2005). The appetite reducing effects of sodium alginate and other marine-derived fiber are widely known, but the underlying mechanism is still not completely elucidated. According to the current paradigm, it is related to the interaction of sodium-alginate and calcium during the digestive process and the subsequent changes in viscosity of the gastric content, which has been associated with slowed gastric emptying and a reduction of postprandial glucose and insulin response. Of these the latter, i.e. the prolonged influx of glucose, the absence of blood glucose spikes and the overall reduction in insulin levels is currently believed to be at the heart of the observed satiety effects (Cani. 2009).

What is interesting about this study is that according to the self-set goals of the scientists, which lay at the ground of their "Intention-To-Treat analysis" (ITT), which evaluated the changes in body weight and overall body composition, as well as the improvements of metabolic risk factors as a whole, yielded no differences between the two study arms.

Figure 1: Changes in body weight and body composition in response to caloric reduction (-300kcal/day) with or without supplemental alginate (15g/day) after 12 weeks (large graph); actual weight development over the whole 12-week study period (small graph; directly from Jenson. 2012)

If you do yet take a closer look at the actual study data (see figure 1), you will see that there were very important differences between those dieters who simply consumed 300kcal/per day less (control group) and those who followed the exact same calorically reduced dietary regimen yet with an additional 15g of fiber from sodium alginate before every meal (alginate group)!

Lose more weight, more fat and do this at a constant rate beyond week 9!

Despite the fact that onlye the differences between the reduction in total weight and body fat percentage reached statistical significance, this and the absence of the "weight loss plateau" in week 9+ (see figure 1, right) in the alginate group clearly suggest that much contrary to what Jenson et al. had apprehended, the previously demonstrated short-term weight loss benefits of fibrous algae extract and other dietary fiber (Paxman. 2008; Odunsi. 2010; Peters. 2011; Wanders. 2011) did not disappear after an initial adaptation phase. On the contrary! The 40% greater reduction in body weight, as well as the 36% greater reduction in body fat percentage would be of little value if the body weight stagnated after only -6.78kg weight loss in week 9 and left the dieters with an average BMI of 32kg/m² well in the obesity / danger zone.

Figure 2: Changes in glucose metabolism and ghrelin (left) and lipid metabolism (right) in response to caloric reduction (-300kcal/day) with or without supplemental alginate (15g/day) after 12 weeks (large graph); actual weight development over the whole 12-week study period (small graph; directly from Jenson. 2012)

Looking back at the exact weight development in figure 1 (right), we may thus speculate that the observed improvements of the measured markers of blood glucose management and lipid metabolism of which only the HbA1c (not shown in figure 2) showed a statistically significant inter-group difference (+0.01% in control -0.01% in alginate; p < 0.024) would have reached statistical significance after 16-20 weeks. This is particularly true for the insulin levels, for which the difference between control and alginate group is already borderline significant (p < 0.062) after 12 weeks of alginate supported dieting.

Bottom line useful for the obese, safe, well tolerated, but...

Image 3: Duong Nguyen from the first installment of the SuppVersity Student Spotlight at the beginning and end of his amazing 12-week transformation!

As usual we do however have to remember that the subjects in this study were more than just a little chubby, with body fat percentages in the >40% range a reduction of -5.8% (control) and -8.2% (alginate) is easier achieved than a (from a merely mathematical standpoint) equal -12% of the body fat content from 12% to 10%. So, while healthy dieters don't have to care about the minimal, but statistically significantly lower reduction in blood pressure in response to weight loss with sodium-alginate (the scientists ascribe this to the relatively high sodium content of the alginate supplement), the will probably not benefit in the same way as Jenson's obese subjects from the additional 45g of fiber per day. Well, unless, it exerts similar effects effects as they have been observed for hydroxypropyl-distarches (cf. "Waxy Maize Reloaded") on the expression of GIP, GLP-1 and the whole host of the initially mentioned incretin hormones, and adipokines (Sánchez. 2012) and don't just curb appetite and slow digestion.

If it had all those GBA (gut brain axis ;-) effects, seaweed derived sodium-alginate supplements could however make an ideal adjunct to a ~20% reduction in food intake, a reasonable fat loss workout (e.g. "Step By Step Guide to Your Own Workout Routine - Part V: Example Routines - Round 2: Fat Loss Support Routine") and a stimulant-based fat burner of your choice, whenever you strive to cut a few pounds of body weight. I mean, just imagine if Duong (see image 3), who likewise dieted for 12 weeks would have lost 35% more fat mass - yeah you're right, he would probably have been "disgustingly" lean, as Adelfo likes to call it ;-)

References:

1. Brownlee IA, Allen A, Pearson JP, Dettmar PW, Havler ME, Atherton MR, Onsøyen E. Alginate as a source of dietary fiber. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2005;45:497–510.
2. Cani PD, Lecourt E, Dewulf EM, Sohet FM, Pachikian BD, Naslain D, De Backer F, Neyrinck AM, Delzenne NM. Gut microbiota fermentation of prebiotics increases satietogenic and incretin gut peptide production with consequences for appetite sensation and glucose response after a meal. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;90:1236–43
3. Jensen GM, Kristensen M, Astrup A. Effect of alginate supplementation on weight loss in obese subjects completing a 12-wk energy-restricted diet: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Jul;96(1):5-13. Epub 2012 May 30.
4. Mudaliar S, Henry RR. The incretin hormones: from scientific discovery to practical therapeutics. Diabetologia. 2012 Jul;55(7):1865-8. Epub 2012 May 4.
5. Odunsi ST, Vazquez-Roque MI, Camilleri M, Papathanasopoulos A, Clark MM, Wodrich L, Lempke M, McKinzie S, Ryks M, Burton D, et al. Effect of alginate on satiation, appetite, gastric function, and selected gut satiety hormones in overweight and obesity. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2010;18:1579–84.
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7. Peters HP, Koppert RJ, Boers HM, Stro ¨m A, Melnikov SM, Haddeman E, Schuring EAH, Mela DJ,Wiseman SA. Dose-dependent suppression of hunger by a specific alginate in a low-viscosity drink formulation. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2011;19:1171–6.
8. Sánchez D, Miguel M, Aleixandre A. Dietary fiber, gut peptides, and adipocytokines. J Med Food. 2012 Mar;15(3):223-30. 
9. Wanders AJ, van den Borne JJGC, Graaf EJMF. Effects of three dietary fiber on food in real life setting. Appetite 2011;57:544.