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Resveratrol Weight Loss: Can You Lose Body Fat?

By: Jeremy Lucas

As a society we are growing fatter and fatter each year. This epidemic is a direct result of how easy it is to get our hands on incredibly unhealthy food. Why spend 45 minutes cooking dinner and doing dishes, when you can just order a pizza or pick up some McDonald’s? The growing problem that is our waist line has spawned one of the most profitable industries in the history of the world; weight loss supplements. We all want a way to take off all the pounds that is as easy as it was to put them on.

Resveratrol is a naturally produced health supplement that has been known to counteract many of the signs of aging. Recently, many companies have been promoting it as the next big thing for weight loss. Is resveratrol weight loss for real, or has it just been hyped up by companies trying to take advantage of you?

The original intent of this product was not as a dietary supplement. The main benefits that have been discovered are; an increase in athletic performance, protection against diabetes, and as a defense against other age related diseases such as cancer and dementia. All of those sound amazing, and wouldn’t it be nice if this product also induced weight loss?

The reason that resveratrol does work is because it mimics the calorie restricted diet. This diet activates a gene known as SiRT1, which is thought to be a survival gene activated to help protect the body. Studies in mice have shown that the activation of this gene has helped to break down stored fat, increased metabolism, and prevented weight gain. Another study with mice showed that those mice who were given resveratrol on top of an incredibly high fat diet (60% of calories from fat) overcame many of the detriments of obesity, but still gained weight.

Resveratrol allows us to take advantage of many of the benefits of this longevity method, without the need to change to a highly restrictive diet. The two studies mentioned above seem to indicate that combined with a somewhat healthy lifestyle it could indeed the fact weight. The second study makes it clear that while it will still have positive benefits against obesity, it does not give you free reign to eat whatever you want.

There have not been many studies that have looked for a conclusive answer to this question. Most of what we know about resveratrol and weight loss comes from user reports. Since these reports are not conducted in a scientific manner it can be hard to tell exactly what caused a result.

That being said, many users say that they have lost weight and body fat percentages while on this supplement. There are many reasons why this might be the case. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons here:

The first would be that the resveratrol itself is doing something to induce this result. If this is the case it would mean as long as you kept the rest of your life style the same (IE not eating more food) you would lose weight. There are not any human studies yet that backup this theory, but it is what most users and companies would like to be true.

The second reason could be that a side effect of the supplement could have a result that ended up causing you lose weight. One effect that people notice when they first began is that it causes a suppressed appetite for a few hours after taking a dose. Obviously, when you eat less you lose weight, so having a decreased appetite is going to cause the desired effect. Resveratrol is also known to improve endurance and athletic performance, so it might allow you to get more from your workout. If you are now working out harder and longer than you were before, then muscle gain and weight loss will likely occur.

The third could be that weight loss could occur because of the placebo effect. When people start to take a supplement like this, it is because they have a desire to be healthier and in better shape. Just the simple fact that you are taking something like this each day could cause you to subconsciously eat better and exercise more often. You are expecting a pill to give you a desired outcome, and your brain tricks you into getting that outcome by any means necessary. This is all done unknown to you, and you will likely give all of the credit to the little pill.

The fact that people are losing weight while on resveratrol could mean that any of those three scenarios could be true. With all the other amazing benefits this can bring you, it might not matter exactly how it works, just that it does. It might be sometime before we know for sure if resveratrol can be used specifically as a weight loss supplement, but all of the other benefits are starting to become universally recognized. If you lose some weight on top of those, that is just an excellent bonus.

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