Is your rat fat? Is your pig, well, piggy? If you want leaner swine or rodents, you might try some conjugated linoleic acid for them. But if you're trying to lose weight yourself, forget the CLA diet.

I'm Dr. Caroline Cederquist, giving you the Skinny on Your Health.

CLA is derived from beef and dairy products, and most of us already consume about 150 to 200 mg a day through dietary intake. CLA actually did help change body composition and accelerate weight loss for hundreds of subjects in clinical trials.

The trouble is, those subjects were pigs and rats and chickens. When controlled studies were done with humans, CLA had virtually no effect at all.

The researchers did say that if CLA were taken in the massive doses given to animal subjects, it could make a difference, but that could mean taking up to 30 capsules of CLA a day, at a cost of about $750 a month, to say nothing of the cost in liver damage.

So the bottom line on CLA? Leave it to the livestock.

###

Caroline J. Cederquist, M.D. is a board certified Family Physician and a board certified Bariatric Physicians (the medical specialty of weight management). Dr. Cederquist is the founder of Bistro M.D., a home diet delivery program that specializes in low calorie gourmet food that is delivered to your home or office. Bistro M.D. serves as culmination of Dr. Cederquist's expertise and experience in the world of medical weight loss.