Bromelain

Consider the widely advertised in our country "Fat burners" ("Fat burner", "Fat burner with bromelain", "Fat burner with Z-carnitine", "Super fat burner No. 1") - drugs promoted in Russia by the US National Academy of Nutrition, Inc. "(NAN USA).

A couple of words on the name of the manufacturer. Do not be confused by such a loud name as the "US National Academy of Nutrition." The Ink (Incorporated) prefix puts everything in its place. It means that we are dealing with the most ordinary commercial joint stock company.

Here is what the head of the Center for Hygienic Certification at the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences VA Tutelyan explains: “NAN USA, Inc is the name of a private commercial company registered in the state of California, USA. We are not aware of the scientific work of the members or employees of this firm."

"Super fat burner" by itself, without a special diet, does not lead to weight loss. However, advertisements for "fat burners" warn about the same: for the effective action of the drug during its intake, it is necessary to eat less flour, sweet and fatty foods, exclude alcohol from consumption.

So, it would seem, we have before us a common lie, and "Fat Burners" can be attributed to the pill-deception. But not everything turns out to be so simple. In fact, everything is much worse. The point is, bromelain actually helps break down fats.

Ideally, a person should eat about 60 g of animal fat and 27 g of vegetable oils per day (according to the recommendations of nutritionists). We open the physiology textbook and read: “Only a part (45–75%) of fats is split in the gastrointestinal tract” (AV Loginov, “Physiology with the basics of human anatomy”, 1983).

That is, not all fats from food are broken down into components (glycerin and fatty acids) and are absorbed into the blood. 25–55% of these fats are energy useless; passes through the gastrointestinal tract and exits with feces. It is these fats that make it difficult to flush stool in toilets.

Since animal fats are the most dangerous for the body, let's turn our attention to them. So, at a rate of 60 g of fat per day, 15 g – 33 g of fat (25–55%) or 140–310 kcal daily pass through the gastrointestinal tract and leave it without undergoing changes.

Now, imagine that at the same time with food we start taking bromelain, "a drug that is unique in its fat-breaking power", as the advertisement says. What does it mean? This means that those fats that normally just left the gastrointestinal tract now begin to break down into glycerin and free fatty acids, which are safely absorbed into the bloodstream!

Fatty acids are safely used for the synthesis of human fat and as a result of the use of bromelain, we have an additional intake of 140-310 kcal of pure fat per day. Those. taking bromelain will not only decrease fat stores, it will increase them!

Moreover, what is especially bad, additional intake of proteins will not occur, so the body will switch to the mode of transporting fats in the form of low density lipoproteins - a variant of transporting fats in the mode of protein deficiency. And this is not a joke at all.

Let us briefly recall the scheme for the development of atherosclerosis. Modern research has shown that the main cause of atherosclerosis is low and very low density lipoproteins (LDL and VLDL).

What are these lipoproteins and why do the body need them at all? Blood cannot tolerate pure fatty substances, for their normal transport through the blood, such substances are placed in a protein shell.

Such transport droplets of fats enclosed in a protein shell are called lipoproteins. Those. a droplet of fat uses the protein coat like a rider uses a horse - only for delivery to its destination.

Beneficial high-density lipoproteins (HDL) differ from harmful low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and very low-density (VLDL) only in size - the diameter of harmful LDL is 2 times the diameter of useful HDL (the diameter of VLDL is even larger). The larger diameter saves protein, and with the same protein content, these lipoproteins (LDL) can carry 4.5 times more cholesterol and 9 times more fat. Those. the use of low density lipoproteins is an option for transporting fats in a protein deficient regime.

When taking bromelain, additional fat intake is not accompanied by additional protein intake. As a result, fats begin to be carried by low-density lipoproteins, and this is a direct path to arterial atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis of the arteries is the main cause of death in modern mankind (51% of all deaths).

So, we saw a really scary picture: due to its strong fat-splitting action, taking bromelain leads to replenishment of body fat and provokes the most dangerous disease of our time - atherosclerosis of the arteries.

Bottom Line: Bromelain-Based Fat Burners Are Dangerous To Your Health! (more in the book by M. Ya. Zholondza "Excess weight: New dietetics", "Ves", St. Petersburg, 2000). Chasing the illusion of fast weight loss, you will not only lose weight, but also gain new ones. And in addition, you will get a delayed in time risk of atherosclerosis, which over time can manifest itself as myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke or narrowing of the arteries in the legs.