Contents

Page 1
Chitosan versus Xenical.
Chitosan patents.
The synergistic effect of vitamin C.
Page 2
Sprague-Dawley rats and human rats.
Page 3
What they don't tell you about Xenical.
Page 4
My chitosan experiment and price comparison.
Page 5
Possible long-term side effects.
Possible long-term benefits.
Discussion.

My Chitosan Experiment And Price Comparison

To the best of my knowledge, there is no human research that has used a dose of chitosan/vitamin C designed to match the effectiveness of Xenical. I wanted to see if such a dose would cause undesirable side effects, so I decided to try a low dose and a high dose of the chitosan/vitamin C combination. I was also curious to see how the cost would compare with Xenical.

Since I could not find a product that was properly formulated, purchasing the ingredients separately seemed to be the only option. The ingredients must be in gelatin capsules, and you want real vitamin C (ascorbic acid), not buffered C or Ester-C. So I surfed around a bit and WebVitamins seemed to have good prices on suitable ingredients:

Low Dose Chitosan/Vitamin C
500 mg vitamin C and 1500 mg chitosan taken 3 times a day.
Natrol Chitosan: 360 capsules (500 mg).
Twinlab C-500: 250 capsules (500 mg).

High Dose Chitosan/Vitamin C
1000 mg vitamin C and 3000 mg chitosan taken 3 times a day.
Natrol Chitosan: 360 capsules (500 mg).
Twinlab C-1000: 250 capsules (1000 mg).

Warning: the doses of chitosan that I discuss exceed the recommendations of most supplement manufacturers. See our Terms of Service for more information.

Note: this chart is based on the 3.4g/g results of the in vivo Kanauchi et al. chitosan study (5),  patient information from Hoffmann-La Roche, and a web-based price survey performed in Aug 2001.

Quality chitosan & vitamin C is available at very competitive prices at WebVitamins:

Natrol Chitosan: 360 capsules (500 mg).

Twinlab C-1000: 250 capsules (1000 mg).

Written
Sep 2001
Last Update
Sep 2001

Whenever I take something new, I always start with a VERY low dose to see how I react to it. So I started off with just one capsule of chitosan and worked my way up to the Low Dose Chitosan/Vitamin C combination. This was taken 30 minutes before the meal.

At this dose, the only notable thing was slightly *enhanced* elimination due to the increased fiber intake. Perhaps because the fat is enveloped in the chitosan gel, I found that I could eat a high fat meal without experiencing any Xenical type side effects. In fact, no diarrhea or constipation was found in rats fed a diet containing 10% chitosan (a monster dose!) (8).

Since the low dose experiment went fine, I decided to work my way up to the High Dose Chitosan/Vitamin C combination. This dose seemed to have an appetite-suppressing effect. Of course, it could be a placebo effect, but I found a study where chitosan had an appetite suppressing effect on chickens: "Feeding of the chitosan diet to chickens significantly reduced body weights and feed intakes compared with animals fed on control or pectin diets on days 5 and 11 of the experiment" (9). High dose chitosan also seems to have an appetite suppressing effect on rats: "However, food intake and body weight gain of rats fed the diet containing 5% of chitosan were definitely lower than not only the other fiber including diet groups but also the control group" (10). On the other hand, a couple of studies found that high doses of chitosan did not influence food intake (8, 22).

Of course, consuming such a large amount of fiber affects your bowel movements, but I found the High Dose Chitosan/Vitamin C combination to be remarkably free of side effects. I don't know if people with sensitive stomachs would have a problem with the high dose. However, if the chitosan/vitamin C combination blocks fat as well in humans as in the animal studies, it has a number of advantages:

• It is far less expensive.
• It does not produce diarrhea if you eat too much fat.
• High dose blocks more fat than Xenical.
• Appetite suppression at high dose.

  
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1.) Guerciolini R; Radu-Radulescu L; Boldrin M; Dallas J, and Moore R. "Comparative evaluation of fecal fat excretion induced by orlistat and chitosan." Obes Res, 2001 Jun; Vol: 9; Number: 6; Page: 364-7; PMID: 11399783.

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15.) Hollander PA; Elbein SC; Hirsch IB; Kelley D; McGill J; Taylor T; Weiss SR; Crockett SE; Kaplan RA; Comstock J; Lucas CP; Lodewick PA; Canovatchel W; Chung J, and Hauptman J. "Role of orlistat in the treatment of obese patients with type 2 diabetes. A 1-year randomized double-blind study." Diabetes Care, 1998 Aug; Vol: 21; Number: 8; Page: 1288-94; PMID: 0009702435.

16.) Melia AT; Koss-Twardy SG, and Zhi J. "The effect of orlistat, an inhibitor of dietary fat absorption, on the absorption of vitamins A and E in healthy volunteers." J Clin Pharmacol, 1996 Jul; Vol: 36; Number: 7; Page: 647-53; PMID: 0008844448.

17.) Ormrod DJ; Holmes CC, and Miller TE. "Dietary chitosan inhibits hypercholesterolaemia and atherogenesis in the apolipoprotein E-deficient mouse model of atherosclerosis." Atherosclerosis, 1998 Jun; Vol: 138; Number: 2; Page: 329-34; PMID: 0009690916.

18.) Gallaher CM; Munion J; Hesslink R Jr; Wise J, and Gallaher DD. "Cholesterol reduction by glucomannan and chitosan is mediated by changes in cholesterol absorption and bile acid and fat excretion in rats." J Nutr, 2000 Nov; Vol: 130; Number: 11; Page: 2753-9; PMID: 11053517.

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21.) Miura T; Usami M; Tsuura Y; Ishida H, and Seino Y. "Hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effect of chitosan in normal and neonatal streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice." Biol Pharm Bull, 1995 Nov; Vol: 18; Number: 11; Page: 1623-5; PMID: 0008593495.

22.) Jennings CD; Boleyn K; Bridges SR; Wood PJ, and Anderson JW. "A comparison of the lipid-lowering and intestinal morphological effects of cholestyramine, chitosan, and oat gum in rats." Proc Soc Exp Biol Med, 1988 Oct; Vol: 189; Number: 1; Page: 13-20; PMID: 0003186761.