Monday, 8 July 2013

What Are Raspberry Ketones?

Raspberry ketones have relativity recently reached the health market in the UK, and are marketed as an effective weight loss supplement. This article will explain what raspberry ketones are, and investigate the scientific evidence for their claims.

Raspberry Ketones & Their Uses

A raspberry ketone is a small volatile organic compound. It not only found in raspberries, but is also found in cranberries and other brightly colored berries. These ketones are found in extremely small quantities in these fruits, which means that natural ketones are extremely expensive to obtain. As a result of this raspberry ketones can be made synthetically for a fraction of the price, but will contain impurities.
As raspberry ketones are volatile, they have been used for a long time in the perfume and food industry to give a natural and fruity smell to products. They have only recently been introduced to the supplement industry as a weight loss supplement.

Is There Any Science Behind The Supplement?

To date, there is no clinical evidence to support the claims that raspberry ketones can promote weight loss, or even have any health benefits. There are only a small number of animal studies which have investigated the weight loss properties of raspberry ketones, and only one has shown an ability to prevent any additional weight gain. In this study an incredibly high dosage of raspberry ketones was used, which was 20g per kg of the body weight in raspberry ketones.

Conclusion

The lack of evidence makes it impossible to draw any conclusions. There is currently nothing to suggest that raspberry ketones will aid with weight loss or provide any health benefits. Any claims suggesting they will aid with weight loss are just marketing.

References:

Morimoto, Chie; Satoh, Yurie; Hara, Mariko; Inoue, Shintaro; Tsujita, Takahiro; Okuda, Hiromichi (2005). “Anti-obese action of raspberry ketone”. Life Sciences 77 (2) 194–204

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