What is CLA?
CLA stands for Conjugated Linoleic Acid which is a naturally occurring free fatty acid that is found in dairy products and meat (such as beef and lamb).
What are the Benefits of CLA?
CLA has been shown to increase muscle mass while at the same time reducing body fat and acting as an anti-catabolic agent (i.e. slows down your bodies break down of muscle tissue).
But that’s not all. CLA has also been shown to be a powerful antioxidant which has anti-cancer properties where studies have shown the hindrance of tumor growth in mice.
Furthermore, CLA has also been shown to enhance your immune system and help your body fight off colds.
This sounds like quite a remarkable supplement doesn’t it?
Well there is a catch, in order for you to get enough from dairy and meats you would have to consume a significant amount of food. An interesting point though is that grass feed animals contain up to 300-500% more CLA then grain fed animals. But science has helped extract and develop CLA in quite an effective manner and luckily we can get them in gel capsules which allow for optimal levels of absorption by our bodies.
Are there any side effects of CLA?
There are some concerns that CLA can aggravate insulin resistance with highly overweight people, but this research is extremely controversial and non-conclusive. More research is currently being done with high levels of CLA intake, however, for the most part the benefits seems to outweigh the possible negatives especially if taken at recommended doses (about 2-6000mg/day depending on potency)
Recommended CLA Supplements
Here are a few CLA supplements that I would recommend:
Sign up to the weekly Weight Loss & Training Newsletter & get a 50 Smoothie Recipes PDF for FREE!
Thank you for visiting! Weight Loss and Training is a health blog which features all the best weight loss tips that I have learned over my 20 years of training. My background includes a degree in Kinesiology from the world renown Simon Fraser University, certification in nutritional sciences from UBC, and Personal Trainer Specialist certification from Can Fit Pro.