Conjugated Linoleic Acid
Jan 2, 2025
Conjugated Linoleic Acid: What is it?
Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) are poly-unsaturated fatty acids with various bonding structures within them. They are found mainly in meat and dairy products but can also be used as supplements.
How does it work in the body?
CLAs contain cis, trans, and double bonds. In foods like meat and dairy, they are found in the CLA cis-9, trans-11 form but in supplements they are found in the trans-10, cis-12 form.
What is it used for?
Supplemental CLA are primarily used as anti-obesity and anti-hypertensive agents regularly.
Evidence for and against:
Blood pressure: One study that included 80 obese individuals showed that CLA supplementation significantly enhanced the effect of Ramipril on systolic and diastolic blood pressure reduction.
Cholesterol: In a study of 61 healthy women, high intake of supplemental CLA was shown to significantly elevate HDL levels.
Heart disease: Cardiomyocyte exposure to high glucose levels can result in structural and functional damage to the heart, one study in rat cells found that cells pre-treated with CLA can prevent this cardiomyocyte damage in the setting of hyperglycemia.
Obesity: CLA supplementation was shown to significantly improve weight loss in a 63-subject study over a 12-week period; this led to reduced body weight, BMI, total fat mass, and a reduced fat percentage. Subjects' waist-to-hip ratio and subcutaneous fat mass also significantly decreased. Some studies have not shown any relationship between CLA and weight loss.
Fatty liver disease: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) can be seen in obese patients and lead to liver failure. A study consisting of 38 obese individuals showed that CLA supplementation improved insulin resistance, lipid disturbances, oxidative stress, and liver function in NAFLD [156].
Cancer: There have been claims that CLA can be beneficial against certain types of cancer, but further studies on human subjects need to be conducted to further explore the role of CLA in cancer treatment and prevention.
Dosage:
There is no standardized dosing for CLA, as an adequately powered study to address this has not yet been conducted.
For many of its usages that were explored, 5 g/day of CLA was shown to be safe and effective.
Precautions/side effects:
Side effects of CLA are normally mild and include excessive flatulence, bloating, nausea, and diarrhea.
Men with metabolic syndrome who were taking supplemental CLA had increased insulin resistance and oxidative stress, which led to increased inflammation and diabetes [157].
Animal studies which showed adverse effects with supplemental CLA include:
Kidney damage and enlargement in obese rats with pre-existing kidney disease that were given CLA.
Supplemental CLA in large doses was shown to lead to fat accumulation in the liver of rodents.
Interactions:
There are no known interactions for CLA.
Key Web Sources
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