Yeast Hydrolysate Powered Fat Loss: 7% Reduction in Total Body Fat and 14% Reduction in Abdominal Fat - W/out Diet?

Will the fat-burning magic of 1g/day of yeast hydrolysate dissolve the fat that's still covering the last 2 packs?

It sounds like a marketing scam and I must warn you, one of the authors of a soon-to-be-published paper on the basis of which I came up with this headline is actually with a company that specializes in food additives.

This obviously warrants a heightened degree of suspicion, but it does not mean that the study results could or even must be doctored. I would thus suggest, we take a look at what the Korean scientists from Jeonju University, the University of Seoul, the Korea University and the Neo Cremar Company Ltd. actually did and found before we jump to any premature conclusions about the validity or non-validity of the data.

What exactly is yeast hydrolysate?

I guess, the first thing we have to address is what exactly it was Jung et al. administered to their 24 male and 30 female participants  with body mass indices (BMI) of at least 25 kg/m² (the obesity cut off in the Asia-Pacific region is 25 kg/m²). To this end, it's best to look at how this "supplement" was produced (if you want the short version fast forward to the first red box ;-)

1. 

   You've read about the anti-Crohn's effects of saccharomyces cerv. (bakers yeast) in the SuppVersity Facebook News, recently.

   Saccharomyces cerevisiae (IFO 2346) is incubated in a growth medium containing 2% molasses, 0.6% (NH4)2SO4, 0.1% MgSO4$7H2O, 0.2% KH2PO4, 0.03% K2HPO4,  for 3 days at 30°C.
2. After incubation, the culture is centrifuged at 10,000g for 20 minutes.
3. Immediately after the cells are removed from the centrifuge, they are suspended in 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) and hydrolyzed with 1000 units of bromelain at 30 C for 4 h.

The result of this third step actually is already a, but not yet the hydrolysate. To achieve the "good stuff", it is then centrifuged at 10,000g for 20 min. The small molecules which are then removed from the supernatant are then passed through a 10 kDa molecular-weight cutoff membrane and eventually lyophilized - et voilà!

"Hold on! So what do I need?" Before you hit the "too complicated button" at the bottom of this page, let me briefly point out that you don't need to understand or memorize the production process. The thing you have to look for, when you are shopping for corresponding products is a yeast hydrolysate with a maximal molecular weight (that's ~ the size of the indiv. peptides) of <10kDa that was produced from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In the study at hand, the of this 3+1 step process was packed into 500 mg pouches before it was handed over to the subjects in the active arm of the study (the placebo contained dextrin). 

Figure 1: Inter-group baseline differences for weight + body composition for men and women (Young. 2014)

Both the placebo and yeast supplements had to be taken twice a day 30 min before breakfast and dinner. So far that all sounds like standard procedure. If you take a look at the outcome of the randomization process, you will yet see that there are non-negligible inter-group differences in body composition (see Figure 1): In conjunction with the high fat mass, the low body weight and lean mass of the ladies in the control group, could have significant effects on the change in body weight. Unfortunately, the scientists did not test the significance of this difference, but a 39% gap in lean body mass that comes hand in hand with a 13% higher fat mass can be expected to have a very relevant effect on the outcome of any dietary intervention.

Speaking of dietary interventions! there was no dietary intervention.

I know, it sounds hilarious, but there was no dietary intervention. All the participants had to do was to consume the 1g of yeast hydrolysate or the 1g of dextrin in 2x500mg servings 30 min before breakfast and dinner. That's at least what they were advised to do.

Figure 2: Changes in energy intake (% baseline) and body composition (Young. 2014)

The data in Figure 2 does yet tell you that what they actually did (voluntarily, though) was "dieting". This is particularly true for the female study participants, who reached caloric deficits of 26% by week 6-8 and 28% by week 8-10. Against that background it's not that surprising that the statistical significant changes in body comp were only observed in the female study participants.

There are no effects on resting metabolic rate! The notion that the reduced energy intake is the main, if not the only driving force of the fat loss Jung et al. observed in the study at hand is supported by observations the researchers made in a previous study from 2011 (Jung. 2011a). In the said study, the 20 obese females (body fat >28%) in the yeast group did experience a non-significantly improved fat loss compared to the control group. They did yet also suffer from a "higher" reduction in resting metabolic race (-9.69kcal/day vs. -4.35kcal/day) - similarly non-significant as the weight loss difference, obviously.

This does not mean that the yeast extract doesn't work - quite the contrary, for the average individual who is neither willing nor able to adhere to a caloric deficit without the help of tools like this, it could actually come very handy. For the average physical culturist, it would yet obviously be more interesting if yeast hydrolysates had spot reducing qualities (learn more about spot reduction). And if we take another look at the full text of the study, we could actually argue that this is basically what the authors suggest, when they refer to the results of previous studies and state:

"Yeast hydrolysate increases the reduction of body fat in obese individuals compared with placebo, which supports the hypothesized abdominal fat-lowering effects of yeast hydrolysate" (Young. 2014)

If you look at the study at hand, the question we would have to answer should thus read: Are the abdominal and total fat mass disproportionate. Or to say it differently: Did the subjects lose signifcantly more abdominal than total fat? And in view of the previously discussed problem: Did this vary between male and female participants? Unfortunately, the scientists didn't do us (or rather me) the favor of doing this for us, already. Therefore I had to do the calculations and plotting for Figure 3 myself:

Figure 3: Relative change in body fat mass and abdominal fat thickness (Jung. 2014)

As the text in the box in Figure 3 already tells you, the existing discrepancy between the reduction in total body fat and abdominal fat thickness does not necessarily "prove" the spot reducing prowess of yeast hydrolysate. We do after all know that in the chubbier folks the unhealthy fat in / on the midsection is usually the first to go.

Is the fat loss really localized? 

Furthermore, a previous study by the same researchers clearly refutes the abdominal specific fat loss effects. The corresponding paper was published in 2011 in the Journal of Food and Biochemistry (Jung. 2011a; same paper I referenced in the box above), and despite the fact that the researchers observed a trend for an increase in weight loss within only 4 weeks on the same <10kDa yeast hydrolysate, the fat loss results of the obese women who participated in the study were at best triceps (-2.15 vs. -1.05mm reduction in skinfold thickness in yeast vs. control) and not belly specific (-1.70 vs. -1.08mm reduction in skinfold thickness in yeast vs. control).

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you whether the same can be said of the 2009 paper by Suh et al., because the online archive of the Journal of Food Science and Nutrition, where it was published starts in March 2011. In view of the fact that it was not "ab-specific" in obese women, I really doubt that it will have has particularly pronounced effects on the waistline of female college students - a subject group of whom you would expect that they are at least somewhat closer to the fitness and leanness level of the average SuppVersity reader.

If you are looking for alternative, yet not necessarily more effective purported spot-reduction supp- lements / techniques, you may want to (re?)read the recent SuppVersity article about green tea, green clay & magnesium sulfate soaked "plaster body wraps" | read more

Is yeast hydrolysate an effective tool in your weight loss arsenal? A definitive answer to this question is yet still lacking. Personally, I would spend my money otherwise, because I have never had a problem with cutting back calories, when I decided that this is necessary to lose weight. If, on the other hand, you belong to those people who are constantly hungry, it may be worth trialling a once month supply of yeast hydrolysate caps (or sachets).

The only thing you should be prepared for is that it is not going to work if you don't diet. In all of the human studies I've seen so far, the weight loss went hand in hand with a reduction in calorie intake; and despite the fact that there is good evidence that the His-Pro (=Cyclo) peptides in yeast hydrolysates have additional value as potent antioxidants (Jung. 2011b), their subsequent effect on glucose metabolism will depend on a baseline increase in inflammation. In other words: The bigger your belly, gluttony and baseline inflammation, the greater the benefits.

References:

• Jung, E. Y., Kim, S. Y., Bae, S. H., Chang, U. J., Choi, J. W., & Suh, H. J. (2011a). Weight reduction effects of yeast hydrolysate below 10 kDa on obese young women. Journal of Food Biochemistry, 35(2), 337-350.
• Jung, E. Y., Lee, H. S., Choi, J. W., Ra, K. S., Kim, M. R., & Suh, H. J. (2011b). Glucose Tolerance and Antioxidant Activity of Spent Brewer's Yeast Hydrolysate with a High Content of Cyclo‐His‐Pro (CHP). Journal of food science, 76(2), C272-C278.
• Jung, E. Y., Hong, Y. H., Kim, J. H., Park, Y., Bae, S. H., Chang, U. J., & Suh, H. J. (2012). Effects of Yeast Hydrolysate on Hepatic Lipid Metabolism in High-Fat-Diet-Induced Obese Mice: Yeast Hydrolysate Suppresses Body Fat Accumulation by Attenuating Fatty Acid Synthesis. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 61(2), 89-94.  
• Jung, E. Y., Cho, M. K., Hong, Y. H., Kim, J. H., Park, Y., Chang, U. J., & Suh, H. J. (2014). Yeast hydrolysate can reduce body weight and abdominal fat accumulation in obese adults. Nutrition, 30(1), 25-32.
• Suh, H. J. (2009). The weight reduction effect of yeast hydrolysate-SR101 on female college students. Journal of Food Science and Nutrition, 14(2), 123-128.

High Reps for "Spot Reduction" Works - Yet Not the Way Trainees Believe. Fat Loss Occurs in Untrained Body Parts

You could argue that people who spend money on things like this deserve to be ripped of, but then again, those people who manufacture "devices" like this are selling dreams - and who would not pay some money for a nice dream?

Be honest, I bet there was a time in your life, when you did tons of sit-ups in the mislead and stubborn believe that this practice simply had to reveal a tightly sculpted set of abs, if you just did it regularly and with all the discipline and effort the guys and girls on the TV shopping channels invest into their training... that's not you? Well what about leg raises for the lower abs, then? Not you either? How about the flabby chest that just needs some more bench pressing or the buttocks... ah, let's better not talk about those, right?

While today's SuppVersity news won't change the fundamental truth that diet will always remain the main determinant of fat loss, I would suppose that the results of a recently published study by Rodrigo Ramírez Campillo and his colleagues from Chile and Spain is going to change your perspective on reshaping your body by localized muscle endurance resistance training.

High reps for muscle shaping? Correct, but very different from what you'd probably expect

The study Campillo et al. conducted was designed to address the question of how 12 weeks of a localized muscle endurance resistance training program for the non-dominant leg, affects local and regional body tissue composition - or put simply: Can you shape your non-dominant leg by training it in the bro-scientific 'high rep shaping zone'? I guess I'm not taking away too much, if I tell you right away that the non-dominant leg of the formerly not resistance trained, but active physical education students (7 men and 4 women; average age 23y, anthropometric data see figure 1) who participated in

• 3x80 min sessions of 960-1,200 reps per week
• without scheduled rest between reps (if subjects failed, the weight was reduced) and 
• a progressively increasing intensity of 10% during weeks 1-4, 20% during weeks 5-6, and 30% during weeks 7-12

did not have striated quads and glutes in their non-dominant leg after performing the targeted 34,560-43,200 muscle contractions - and this was (as the data in figure 1) goes to show you, not simply due to a general lack of fat loss:

Figure 1. Anthropometric data of the subjects at baseline and relative changes in the course of the 12-week intervention period (Campillo .2012

In fact, the total body fat mass decreased significantly over the course of the 12-week intervention period (P≤0.05), whereas no significant changes were observed in total body mass, BMD and bone mass, while the neutral/positive nitrogen balance allowed for a relative maintenance (=statistically non-significant minus; cf. figure 2) of total lean mass.

Now that a routine as hilarious as this one does actually result in fat loss; and that it does so in the absence of any dietary interventions or significant changes in energy intake (who was it who said "Exercise just makes you hungry?" ;-) or macronutrient composition over the 12-week intervention period would already be newsworthy. What makes this study stick out, however, is the fact that it is...

"[t]o the best of the authors’ knowledge, the unique approach of the present study was to examine, with a valid anthropometric technique such as DXA, training-induced changes in lean mass, fat mass and bone mass in total body, legs, arms and trunk after a localized muscle endurance resistance training program of relatively high training volume." (Campillo. 2012)

and let's not forget about the results this "unique approach" yielded (see figure 2).

Figure 2: Relative changes in bone mass, lean mass, fat mass in trunk, control leg, trained leg and arms in response to the 12-week exercise intervention (Campillo. 2012)

The scientists explain their observation that lower body exercise does not burn lower, but rather trunk and upper body fat as follows:

I suggest you go back to my previous post "Nasty Insights into the Yo-Yo-Effect: Lower Body Fat Sticks! Plus: Why It's Easier to Get 6-Pack Abs Than Striated Glutes & Hams"

A negative energy balance, induced by regular exercise, may promote a reduction in fat mass, by means of a modified hormonal environment (i.e. increased adrenalin) and a subsequent increase in fatty acids mobilization from fat depots. However, one may take into consideration that the alteration in hormonal environment takes place all over the body, not only in the body segment that was exercised. In doing so, the increased hormonal stress environment induced by exercising the non-dominant leg, may result in fatty acids mobilization, not only of the trained segment, but also from the trunk region and arms.

The reason why the fat mass was significantly reduced in the upper body, and not in the lower body, may be related to the initial fat content of the different body parts. Thus, the fact that at baseline, subjects showed 54% of their total body fat in the trunk, 36% in their legs, and 10% in the arms, may explain, in part, the greater exercised induced-decrease in trunk fat mass." (my emphasis in Campillo. 2012)

Campillo et al. also comment on the often proposed hypothesis that fat mass change would always being at the last place where lipids accumulated stating that there has not yet been a single study that would provide experimental evidence to justify this hypothesis and that it is more likely due to the general tendency of moderate exercise to be fueled mainly from upper body fat stores, while the local adipose tissue in the lower body contributes only little to this process (see link under the image next to the quotation above for more information about how lower body fat is special).

So do you have to do "spot reduction training for your legs to burn the blubber on your abs"? If you had the choice between breathing squats and crunches, sure! And even the 34,560-43,200 one-legged leg presses in the study at hand are probably going to be more productive than doing the same amount of sit-ups... wait, let me think: 100 sit-ups a day for 12 weeks = 100 x 12 x 7 = 8,400 - hmm... maybe you just did not enough sit-ups?

If you want to learn more about the long-term benefits of HIIT or the reason why doing LISS is nice, but doing more and more LISS to burn more calories is simply stupid, go back to "Some HIIT For Life & Less LISS For More! How to Burn 27,300 Kcal Extra W/out Losing a Single Extra Pound of Fat! "

I am obviously just kidding you here. The most important message to take away from this study is that you have to create a fat-catabolic millieu if you want to lose body fat. In that it appears secondary how you achieve that and the 34,560-43,200 rep workout from the study at hand certainly is by no means the only and certainly not the best way to do that. Even Campillo et al. state in the last paragraph of their paper

"a training methodology, similar to that used in our study, may be sufficient to achieve a reduction in fat mass, but we recommend muscle endurance resistance training programs that include big muscle groups, w[h]ich may result in more time efficient energy expenditure and corporal composition modification." (my emphasis in Campillo. 2012)

So back to the basics, ladies and gentlemen. A fast paced full-body circuit training (e.g. the "Fat Loss Support Routine"), HIIT or plyometrics and a classic LISS session from time cleverly combined are still the fasted way to propel (not replace) your diet induced loss in body fat and to (re-)shape your body.

References:

• Campillo RR, Andrade DC, Campos Jara C, Olguín CH, Lepin CA, Izquierdo M. Regional Fat Changes Induced By Localized Muscle Endurance Resistance Training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2012 [Published ahead of print]

Spot Reduce Abdominal Fat With Green Tea, Green Clay & Magnesium Sulfate Soaked "Plaster Body Wrap"... Really!?

No. Some green slime + cellophane is not going to make this possible within 5 weeks ;-)

I have been making fun of doing sit-ups to shed body fat in the midsection only recently on the SuppVersity Facebook Wall and what do I see today? A study that claims that a "plaster body wrap" could help you burn abdominal fat... what the f...at!?

First things first: In the "conflicts of interest" declaration at the end of the paper that is still in the "accepted manuscript" form, the authors declare no interest. If that's correct - and I simply assume it is - they probably have not yet patented their green tea + green clay + magnesium sulphate infused "plasters". This does not only mean that it is unlikely that the scientists "improved" the results of the treatment group; it does also mean that this could be your chance to make a fortune as a fat burning patch or fat burning oil, -creme or -whatever producer :-)

Why don't you test it yourself!?

Now, you all know that money doesn't grow on trees. So aside from a proper amount of entrepreneurship you will also need the will and patience to (1) massage your tummy with an alcoholic extract of green tea (alcohol at 96%) for five minutes (2) apply a solution of ~34g of green clay combined with ~19g of magnesium sulphate in ~17ml of distilled water to belly, (4) plaster your abs with plaster bandage that was previously impregnated with 3g of a green tea and another 7g of magnesium sulphate and finally (5) wrap yourself up in cellophane - go for it! If it works, it's your chance to make a fortune ;-)

In case you missed the recent SuppVersity Facebook post on "spot reduction": A Study from the 1980s says "5007 sit-ups won't shrink your belly by an inch" - I guess the 27-day sit-up challenge the scientists had their subjects perform will remind you of the "six-back" or "flat belly" specials in the Men's H. and Sh*pe magazines of this world; programs of which I can assure you that they will yield the exact same results as the one in the study: NONE → "Body weight, total body fat (underwater weighing), and fatfolds and girths remained unaltered." (Katch. 1984)

I guess the tone in the previous paragraphs has probably given away that I am still somewhat skeptical about the magical fat burning prowess of this "beer-belly remedy", but if you look at the results the 10 normal / pre-obese women in the active arm of this 5-week study you will have to concede: That's pretty impressive! Especially in view of the fact that ll they did to achieve that were two "fully wrapped" up endurance exercise sessions at 50% of their individual maximal heart rate reserve (=maximal heart - resting heart rate) per week.

Figure 1: Difference (active - control) in body fat / skinfold thickness (in cm) and calculated total body fat (caliper data) after 5 weeks with only two "fully wrapped" up 30min endurance sessions (Moreira. 2013)

Alright, I have to admit that the changes you see in figure 1 are pretty pathetic compared to the boastful promises the supplement industry uses to get rid of some Chinese herbal waste they label as "fat burner", "fat incarcinator", or "proven thermogenic". Nevertheless the mere idea that cellophane powered kitchen-sink approach to spot redution could actually work is impressive - don't you think so?

SuppVersity Suggested Read: "High Reps for "Spot Reduction" Works - Yet Not the Way Trainees Believe. Fat Loss Occurs in Untrained Body Parts" | read more

Make of the results whatever you want... and in case you feel inspired to try the "recipe", let me know how it worked. I promise I am not going to patent it before you can ;-)

Ok, enough of this nonsene. I guess, before you get totally psyched and wrapped up, it's worth mentioning that there is no specific information about the time-point when the ultrasound and skinfold measurements were taken. This may sound irrelevant, but if this was anywhere close to the last workout it is possible that the 10 subjects in the "patch" group simply lost more subcutaneous water than the 9 ladies in the control group and all those "significant results" were just measuring errors (in the broadest sense).

References:

• Katch et al. Effects of Sit up Exercise Training on Adipose Cell Size and Adiposity. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 1984; 55(3).
• Moreira JS, Carneiro Pinto de Melo AS, Noites A, Couto  MF,  Argel de Melo C, Freire
  de Almeida Adubeiro NC. Plaster Body Wrap: Effects in Abdominal Fat. Integrative Medicine Research. 2013 [accepted manuscript]

Hula Hooping: Perfect Body Fat Redistribution Workout? Study Shows 3.4 cm Reduction in Waist Circumference & Redistribution of Body Fat Away From the Midsection

You don't even need that many hoops.

Ok, this is not the type of exercise you usually read about at the SuppVersity, but the effects the six week hula program had on the eighteen 32-58 year-old female participants with a waist-to-hip ratio <0.9 in a recent study from the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the Department of Kinesiology of the University of Waterloo had are too impressive and surprising to ignore them.

I mean, who of you would have thought that weighted "hula hooping" can reduce your waist and hip girth significantly and even trigger a redistribution of body mass within only 6 weeks of training? No one?

The best way to shape your body? Build muscle, Ladies & Gents!

Tri- or Multi-Set Training for Body Recomp.?

Alternating Squat & Blood Pressure - Productive?

Pre-Exhaustion Exhausts Your Growth Potential

Full ROM ➯ Full Gains - Form Counts!

Battle the Rope to Get Ripped & Strong

Study Indicates Cut the Volume Make the Gains!

What, I guess most of you would rather have expected, that Stuart McGill and his colleagues would have observed improvements in torso muscular endurance as measured by isometric testing - an effect of which Figure 1 tells you that it did not occur in the study at hand.

Figure 1: The scientists did not observes significant performance increases (McGill. 2014)

There were increases, yes, but let's be honest: What's the average increase in strength endurance during the plank exercise worth, if if the corresponding standard deviation is more than 10x larger than the change? Nothing, right... but before we get lost in statistics, let's briefly take a look at the exercise protocol that was performed during the 6-week study:

Figure 2: Progressive "overload", the duration of the hooping sessions increased progressively (McGill. 2014)

As you can see the scientists used a progressive approach and increased the duration of the training sessions slowly to 15 minutes five times per week in weeks 3-6 (see Figure 2).

The hoop used was a weighted hoop measuring 1.02m in diameter with a mass of 1.7kg. The hoop was comprised of eight segments (approximately 0.4m in length) with a "knobby" inner ring thought of having the possibility of stimulating torso muscle activity (Figure 3).

Figure 3: In-gym intra-workout photo from the original publication (McGill. 2014) - I assume the guy on the right hand side of the photo is the trainer.

As the scientists point out, one of the initial reservation was the initial waist to hip girth ratio as it was suspected that those with a larger waist girth may find successful hooping extremely difficult (ie a pear-shaped vs an apple shaped mid-section about which the hoop swirled). Rather than screening for this stature, all recruited women were measured, and all were found to have a smaller waist than hip girth (mean waist/hip girth ratio of 0.89).

During the trial participants attended a formalized group class once each week and used the hoop on their own, four additional times per week. Participants maintained participation log-books. One of the four participants who did not complete the trial was unable to comply with the “at home” exercise requirements.

Basically, you already know what happened, but in view of what you've just learned about the body size of the women, the absolute loss of 3.4cm from the waist and 1.4 cm from the hips probably sound even more impressive, right?

Figure 4: We are not dealing with an overall, but a spot reduction in body fat (McGill. 2014)

If you look at the actual data in Figure 4, though, you will realize that we are dealing with a zero sum game. The fat was simply redistributed from the midsection to the extremities - no wonder the body weight didn't really change.

Figure 4: Olson and Edelstein observed spot reduction in the trained arm in a 6-week study in response to single-arm 7-RM curls in thirty-two subjects (Olson. 1968)

Bottom line: Even if the results of the study at hand turned out to be less exciting than you previously thought, they are still intriguing, because (a) it's the fat in the midsection that's bad for your health - the Hula program should thus actually have had beneficial effects on the health of the already healthy, non-obese participants; and (b) the results indicate that there is something like "spot reduction" or rather "redistribution", a commonly doubted phenomenon of which some older studies still say that it exists - e.g. "hard exercise in a specific area of the arm will result in a reduction of the subcutaneous adipose tissue in that area" (Olson. 1968; similar results in Schade. 1962) - while others claim to have found significant evidence "against the validity of the concept of 'spot reduction'" (Gwinup. 1971).

Overall, the "repositioning" or "redistribution" effect wouldn't count as "spot reduction" in the strict sense, anyway, and could eventually be a logical consequence of what previous studies in obese individuals have already shown: The unhealthy intra-abdominal fat (the one that is not covering your abs) is always the first to go | Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Gwinup et al. "Thickness of subcutaneous fat and activity of underlying muscles." Annals of internal medicine 74.3 (1971): 408-411.
• McGill et al. "A 6 week trial of hula hooping using a weighted hoop: Effects on skinfold, girths, weight and torso muscle endurance." Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (2014). Publish Ahead of Print
• Olson, Arne L., and Elliott Edelstein. "Spot reduction of subcutaneous adipose tissue." Research Quarterly. American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation 39.3 (1968): 647-652.
• Schade, Maja, et al. "Spot reducing in overweight college women: its influence on fat distribution as determined by photography." Research Quarterly. American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation 33.3 (1962): 461-471.

Abdominal Fat Annihilation With Clay-Wraps, Microcurrents & Aerobic Exercise? There is Something in This List That Works, But It's Probably Not the Clay ;-)

This, probably won't cut it (the fat), because the electrodes and the wraps are missing.

I suppose that the headline of today's SuppVersity article will probably split the SuppVersity Readership into two camps. Those who say: "Pah, I am not a pussy: Clay-Wraps are not an option. I'd rather do a couple of additional HIIT sessions than getting one of those!" And the other camp saying: "Wtf, finally I have a reason to go to the spa regularly!"

In the end, it does not matter on which side of this divide you are, the results a group of scientists from the Oporto Polytechnic Institut in Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal present in their most recent paper in Clay Sciences (no, this is not a joke, there really is a peer-reviewed journal on "clay science"), will probably surprise all of you.

"Clay wraps? Really?"

Assuming you would read the full-text of the study, you would, just like me, initially be enlightened that clay has been used for centuries not just as a cosmetic to make your skin look younger and healthier, but also as a means to reduce abdominal fat (Melo. 2013). Usually, these clays are composed of "green clay" (which has natural calcium and aluminum as components), green tea and magnesium sulfate. The clay is impregnated in a bandage that compresses the tissue and enhances fluid drainage from the abdominal region through the superficial lymphatic system (Standring. 2008).

• 

  Green tea reduces thyroid hormoness. Reason for concern? (learn more)

  Green tea: I am quite certain that all of you are familiar with the fat liberating effects green tea has on adipose tissue, as well as its ability to induce apoptosis in mature fat cells, to inhibit adipogenesis (storage of fat) and differentiation of preadipocytes (formation of new fat cells). Accoding to Belo (2009) and Heinrich (2004) these effects are retained within the adipose tissue, when its applied topically and only very little of the agent will actually make it into circulation.

• Magnesium sulfate: Being an essential mineral to the activity of hormone-sensitive lipase, magnesium can facilitate triglyceride breakdown. It's topical application may be particularly useful, in people with circulatory problems (as in cellulite; learn more). The way the author's present it as an "active fat burner" (in between the lines, only) is yet unwarranted.

• Calcium: Contrary to magnesium, calcium actually plays a more active role in the promotion of body fat loss. An increase in extracellular calcium concentration leads to an augmented enzymatic activity and promotes a reduction of calcitriol (active vitamin D) that will in turn trigger lipolysis (Somaet. 2003; Zemel. 2005). Whether this works via topical application has AFAIK not been well-established.

Another not fully understood factor that could make clay and the minerals in it a valuable tool for minimalist local body reshaping is their ionic nature. The latter can have direct effects on the microcurrents (electrolipophoresis; the movement of molecules due to electric currents) and may thus promote triglyceride degradation by increasing bloodflow and metabolism and by provoking changes in cell membrane polarity.

Ultrasound, caliper and body impedance

The subjects the scientists selected for this research were 20 young women (faculty students), with a body mass index that would rank them as either normal (18.5–24) or pre-obese (25–29). To make sure they would not be fooled by mere changes in the fluid levels of the tissues, the scientists used a combination of ultrasound, body fat caliper and body impedance measures, to access the effects of the "clay-wrap intervention" on the body composition of the ladies.

For the women in the active arm of the study, the protocol, which they went trough two times a week over a course of five weeks (10 interventions altogether) looked like this:

1. 

   In case it's not the amount of fat, but the orange peel look you want to get rid off, check out the SuppVersity Cellulite Special and listen to the show.

   Vigorous 5 min massage with an alcoholic extract of green tea (96% ethanol) macerated for 5 days, about which the scientists say: "[A] combination of ethyl alcohol with green tea provides a good extraction of the tea components . In addition, ethanol promotes the mechanical removal of contaminants and dissolves lipids in the lipid membrane, increasing the permeability of the skin" (Melo. 2003)
2. Application of a solution of 33.79 g of green clay combined with 18.56 g of magnesium sulfate (proportion in volume of 6 measures of green clay for 4 measures of sulfate) dissolved in 16.67 ml of distilled water to the abdomen. 
3. Application of a low elasticity bandage soaked in an infusion of 3.12 g of green tea, 6.94 g of magnesium sulfate (1 measure, in volume) and 0.5 l of water was applied with increased pressure from the center to the periphery. 
4. Application of microcurrents to the abdominal region with electrodes in a parallel position, and at an intensity below the sensitivity threshold (max. of 1 mA, frequencies of 25 Hz and 10 Hz) for 15 minutes. The polarity changed every second.

The protocol also included 30 min of aerobic moderate-intensity exercise (50%) on a cycloergometer
which had to be performed with the clay body wrap on the abs.

Figure 1: Before vs. after local (ultrasound) and total (body fat caliper in %) in the active arm of the study (Melo. 2003)

If we look at the main study outcomes, it's hard to argue that the intervention was kind of successful. "Kind of", in this case, implies that the effects were not earth-shattering and nothing you couldn't achieve by diet + exercise alone. More importantly, though, the results of the control group were within statistical margins the same. So what does that tell you about the usefulness of clay wraps?

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If you are in his position, clay is certainly the last thing you want to rely on, to reduce your weight to a healthy level. Stick to what works dieting and the glucose repartitioning effects of exercise about which you've read in an article from Friday, July 5 (read it)

Bottom line: So what can we learn from a study like this? Well, personally, I would say: "Just because it's science, this does not mean it does make sense!" And I guess you will concede that going through the ardeous procedure is not exactly worth the statistically non-significant additional 1 cm reduction in waist circumference in the intervention group.

Not convinced,yet, well if you put any faith in the data from body-fat calipers and body impedance devices which tell us that the total trunk fat loss was (non significantly) larger in the control group (-2.1% vs. -1.6) and the total body fat loss measured using triceps, suprailiac, thigh and abdominal skinfolds, were -1.9% and -1.8% for the women in the control and intervention group, respectively, I guess that should suffice to shelve the idea of going to the spa to actively burn fat. That does not mean, however that the relaxing effect it can have may eventually promote body fat loss, but this would be the topic for another study ;-)

References:

• Belo SE, Gaspar LR, Maia Campos PM, Marty JP. Skin penetration of epigallocatechin-3-gallate and quercetin from green tea and Ginkgo biloba extracts vehiculated in cosmetic formulations. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2009;22(6):299-304.
• Heinrich M, Barnes J, Gibbons S, Williamson EM.Fundamentals of Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy. Churchill Livingstone—Elsevier Limited. 2004.
• Melo et al. Clay body wrap with microcurrent: Effects in central adiposity. Applied Clay Science. 2013; 80-81:140–146.
• Soma MR, Gotto AM Jr, Ghiselli G. Rapid modulation of rat adipocyte lipoprotein lipase: effect of calcium, A23187 ionophore, and thrombin. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1989 Jun 28;1003(3):307-14.
• Standring S. Anterior abdominal wall (chapter 61). Standring, S, Gray's Anatomy—The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Elsevier, 40th Churchill Livingstone. 2008; p1059.
• Zemel MB, Richards J, Milstead A, Campbell P. Effects of calcium and dairy on body composition and weight loss in African-American adults. Obes Res. 2005 Jul;13(7):1218-25.

Cardio or Weights? What's The Best Tool For a Non-Obese Active Individual to Lose 20% of Belly Fat in 10 Weeks?

Slowly, painfully slowly the message transpires: Men and women are different, but the means by which they achieve the physique many of us desire are the virtually the same: Diet and exercise. Needless to say hat both lifting weight & doing "cardio" (LISS & HIIT) are obligatory for either sex. But is that true for fats and carbs, as well (learn more)?

If you are not one of those people who simply  ignore the fact that SuppVersity articles have "telling" titles, you will already have realized that the subject selection is one of the greatest strengths of the 10-week experiment Jorge Perez-Gomes and his Spanish colleagues have conducted recently. While we are bombarded with information on how walking in the park strips tons of body fat off the bodies of morbidly obese "big losers", detailed information on what works for people like the 26 healthy young men (age 22.5 ± 1.9 yr) who participated in the study at hand is surprisingly scarce.

"Dieting" does not necessary imply "eating less"

The participants, whose body composition was measured by the means of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) were all healthy and physically active and with an average BMI ~22kg/m² and body fat levels of  ~17% at a level comparable to that of the average gymrat striving "to [eventually?] look good naked" ;-) According to the research design, all participants were required to keep their dietary habits unchanged during the 10-week study period.

Since they were free to eat as much as they wanted, you can however safely assume, that the subjects in the endurance and strength training groups did increase their caloric intake in response to the energetic demands of their workouts (the subjects trained three times per week).

Table 1: Detailed outline of the strength training protocol. The scientists had used the exact same protocol in a previous study in the course of which 18 male physical education students lost a whopping 7% BF in 6 weeks (Ara. 2006).

• endurance training group (EG) - "The EG performed running and cycling sessions with a load intensities ranging between the ventilatory threshold 1 (VT1) and 2 (VT2), during 90 minutes per
  session. The VT were calculated from the cardiorespiratory tests that were performed at the same time of the day (16:00-19:00 h) under similar environmental conditions (20º C; relative humidity, 45-55%, 720 mmHg) on an electrically braked cycle-ergometer" (Perez-Gomez. 2013)

• strength training group (ST) - "Briefly, RG trained with 5 different exercises (parallel squat, leg extension, inclined leg press, leg curl and hip flexors), for which 1RM was assessed before and after 10-week training. The ranged between 50-90% of 1RM values obtained were used for the training. A 90-s rest period was taken between exercise sets." (Perez-Gomez. 2013)

With the nutritional aspect off the table, you may be asking yourselves: "Why on earth we are we seeing a lower-body-only-workout, here?" Obviously, I cannot ask the scientists directly, but I would guess that it is a combination of (a) the proven efficiacy of the workout, which has been used by the same group of researchers in a previous study, in the course of which the 18 male physical education students had lost a whopping an statistically highly significant 7% body fat (Ara. 2006), and (b) the fact that it would be unfair to compare a whole body strength workout to a "leg only" endurance workout on a cycle ergometer.

Figure 1: Relative changes in body composition compared to baseline (Perez-Gomez. 2013)

Still, the advantage of the endurance training as far as overall fat loss is concerned is not a simple result of not training the upper body. You can even argue that the overall energy expenditure on a classic body part split would have been even  lower. With the latter, as well as the degree of dietary compensation for the "used" energy in the time between the workouts being the main determinant of the amount of weight you'll lose it should thus  not surprise you that a 90min of pretty intense cardio had an edge over a classic resistance training regimen (slow paced, progressive; cf. table 1)

Exercise doesn't just make you hungry

Don't trust anyone who wants to tell you that "exercise will just make you hungry" or that calories didn't count at all - regardless of how prominent he/she may be (learn why)

Now, you will probably remember that a fast paced, more versatile CrossFit-esque workout (learn more) would have been a better option for someone whose main goal is to shed that belly fat of his (or hers!), but could you honestly say that the 10 weeks of training on either protocol didn't server their purpose? I don't think so.

Moreover, the differential effects the two "types" of exercise had on the body composition of the subjects, as well as the observed correlations between improved HDL levels and increases in lean muscle mass (EG) and trunk fat (ST), and lower LDL levels with waist circumference (EG) do actually confirm that there is something healthy about striving to be lean and muscular.

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Sometimes it also takes doing less, less of "dieting" and less of "training" to make progress again. I know it sounds like something only women who need a psychologist would fall for, but the Athlete's Triad (learn more) is neither a female thing, nor something only psychos would get trapped in. On the contrary! My personal experience tells me that it's often the smartest and most determined physical culturists who fall victim to their own burning ambition... much contrary to their often prominent role-models they don't have a team of shrinks and trainers to help them get back on track. So you better make sure not to sacrifice your friendships on your quest for perfection!

Bottom line: You don't have to reinvent the wheel. The simple combination of endurance and resistance training that has worked for the fathers of physical culture still works, today. If you need some inspirations on how you can combine them into a training program that matches your individual needs, professional schedule & social life and will take your physique another step closer to where you want it to be, check out the SuppVersity "Step by Step Guide to Your Own Workout Routine" (learn more)...

I guess, I don't have to tell you that 90min of LISS may be one way but certainly not the best way to improve on your physique - specifically if you are way past the "Homer Simpson" stage. You can learn more about training & dieting for your type and measuring your progress in one of the previous installments of the Intermittent Thoughts.

Ah, and one last word of wisdom: Don't forget that looking and feeling great is not all about having a cover model physique.

So, once you've got rid of the unhealthy blubber, it's often time to re-think whether taking the next and for the "non-genetic freaks" among us not necessary healthy step to being totally jacked is really what you want, or if the desire to look like X,Y or Z does not have much different roots.

References:

• Ara I, Perez-Gomez J, Vicente-Rodriguez G, Chavarren J, Dorado C, Calbet JA. Serum free testosterone, leptin and soluble leptin receptor changes in a 6-week strength-training programme. Br J Nutr. 2006 Dec;96(6):1053-9.
• Perez-Gomez J, Vicente-Rodríguez G, Ara Royo I, Martínez-Redondo D, Puzo Foncillas J, Moreno LA, Díez-Sánchez C, Casajús YJA. Effect Of Endurance And Resistance Training On Regional Fat Mass And Lipid Profile. Nutr Hop. 2013;28(2):340-346.