L-Ascorbic Acid Addition to Chitosan Reduces Body Weight in Overweight Women

Abstract

Previously, we have found that the addition of L-ascorbic acid to chitosan enhanced the reduction in body weight gain in guinea pigs fed a high-fat diet. We hypothesized that the addition of L-ascorbic acid to chitosan would accelerate the reduction of body weight in humans, similar to the animal model. Overweight subjects administered chitosan with or without L-ascorbic acid for 8 weeks, were assigned to three groups: Control group (N=26, placebo, vehicle only), Chito group (N=27, 3 g/day chitosan), and Chito-vita group (N=27, 3 g/day chitosan plus 2 g/day L-ascorbic acid). The body weights and body mass index (BMI) of the Chito and Chito-vita groups decreased significantly (p<0.05) compared to the Control group. The BMI of the Chito-vita group decreased significantly compared to the Chito group (Chito: -1.0 kg/m2 vs. Chito-vita: -1.6 kg/m2, p<0.05). The results showed that the chitosan enhanced reduction of body weight and BMI was accentuated by the addition of L-ascorbic acid. The fat mass, percentage body fat, body circumference, and skinfold thickness in the Chito and Chito-vita groups decreased more than the Control group; however, these parameters were not significantly different between the three groups. Chitosan combined with L-ascorbic acid may be useful for controlling body weight.

Graded effects of dry-feed added sodium benzoate/ascorbic acid combination on neurobehaviour, brain markers of oxidative stress, and markers of inflammation in mice

“…Therefore, it su ces to say that combining NAB with AA reverses the body weight changes that had been reported to occur with NAB alone [7,13]. Widely reported is the weight reduction ability of AA [41][42][43], with studies in humans [43]\ and guinea pigs [42] reporting the weight reduction effects of an AA-chitosan diet, supporting our observations in this study.…”

Anti-Obesity Effects of Chitosan and Its Derivatives

“…Early studies used chitosan capsules for a month as a supplement to the normal diet, which resulted in the absence of an effect [73]. Later on, increasing the chitosan dose and duration to 2 mo resulted in a change of −1 kg in the chitosan group versus the placebo [74]. Another study, which tried chitosan treatment for 3 mo, already resulted in a change of −3 kg [75].…”