Another study has recently come out on a natural remedy for weight loss, showing the importance of healthy fats in the diet of postmenopausal women. This trial involved a daily supplement of a specific type of fat called CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid. CLA is in the omega 6 fatty acid family, and has the same chemical formula as linoleic acid but with the atoms arranged in a different formation. CLA used to be abundant in the diet when beef, lamb and full fat dairy products were consumed regularly. Also, the animals that produced it ate a diet composed mostly of grass.
Today’s beef and dairy sources are typically lacking this important fat because they are no longer grass fed. This is likely one of the reasons these sources are more inflammatory, and less healthy than their low fat counterparts.
In the study, researchers gave 75 healthy postmenopausal women either 5.5 grams of CLA or a placebo supplement daily for 16 weeks. All women had a BMI of less than 35, so they were considered overweight or mildly obese. What they found at the end of the trial was that taking the CLA supplement reduced BMI by 4 percent. While this is a modest weight loss, the exciting part is that most of the weight loss was in the lower body, where women tend to hold their excess weight. Those taking the placebo saw no change in their BMI. And keep in mind that the trial lasted only about 4 months, so presumably, fat loss would continue as has been found in other studies examining CLA.
Healthy fats are an important part of a well rounded diet, yet many women eat very little beef, lamb or full fat dairy–especially the organic forms which are the best. Taking a simple natural supplement of CLA could help women bring more of this healthy fat into the diet to help ease the creeping effect of weight that occurs especially during and after menopause.