For those looking to go on a diet but can’t stick to smaller portions and reduced calorie foods, you may have a solution.
As one of the most popular all-natural appetite suppressants, glucomannan may be your ticket to shrinking your appetite so you finally lose weight. Glucomannan is a water soluble polysaccaharide derived from the Asian Konjac plant. And while it’s widely used in the weight loss industry as a appetite suppressant, it also is used to control cholesterol, maintain healthy blood sugar levels, control type 2 diabetes and reduce constipation.
What makes glucomannan so effective as an appetite suppressant is the fact that it forms a gel-like mass in the stomach to help limit hunger while prevent cholesterol from being absorbed.
Glucomannan has been through a number of major clinical studies with an average weight loss of 5.5 pounds in 8 weeks.
Conducted by David E Walsh, Vazgen Yaghoubian, and Ali Behforooz, this 8 week study was conducted using 1000mg of purified glucomannan fiber in the Research Department of General Nutrition Mills in North Dakota. This study used 20 obese subjects, some subjects taking 1000mg of glucomannan twice daily with 8oz of water 1 hour before meals and the other group taking a placebo with 8oz of water 1 hour before meals.
Prior to the experiment, both groups were advised not to change previous diet and exercise habits, and cholesterol, weight, body fat, and other factors were measured. At the end of the study, the test group experienced significant improvements in cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and the average weight loss for the glucomannan group was 5.5 pounds in 8 weeks whereas the placebo group gained 1.5 pounds average.
And while glucomannan has been compared to weight loss surgery, it does not have any of the complications of surgery. While surgery requires recovery time and has even been known to interfere with the absorption of essential nutrients, glucomannan encourages the healthy absorption of essential nutrients. If you eat too much after surgery, you will probably throw up, which can provide obvious motivation to stop overeating. But if you overeat with glucomannan, you are more likely to have a stomach ache and feel bloated, which for some can be just as motivating, but not as damaging to the esophagus.
As you can tell, glucomannan is the whole package. It should be combined with a healthy diet and exercise plan, and I imagine that study subjects would have lost more if instructed to follow a low fat or healthy diet and exercise plan. But the bottom line is that glucomannan provides healthy and effective weight loss results without the complicated side effects of many harsher alternatives.
Walsh DE, Yaghoubian V, Behforooz A. “Effects of Glucomannan on Obese Patients: A Clinical Study.” Int J Obes 1984; 8 (4): 289-93