Does CLA Really Melt Away Fat?

C.L.A., the short form for conjugated linoleic acid, is said to do many wondrous things, such as help the body lose fat and build muscle.  Does it really do that? New York Times health-reality-check writer Anahad O’Connor has an answer, and it is less than wondrous. O’Connor reports on a meta-analysis that pooled the results of more than a dozen randomized
studies and found that people who took 3.2 grams of C.L.A. a day showed a
drop in fat mass of about 0.2 pounds a week — or nearly a pound a month
— compared with those given a placebo. The bad news, says O’Connor, comes from other studies that suggest a connection between C.L.A and adverse health effects, such as increased blood levels of C-reactive protein, lipoprotein and leptin. Read more in the New York Times.