MONTICELLO - There just may be a cure for obesity that's as simple as taking a pill twice a day, according to a Monticello man.
While that claim may sound like a late-night television infomercial, Roc Ordman, biochemistry professor and department chair at Beloit College, has research supporting his hypothesis that a combination of an amino acid and olive oil can help people shed excess pounds.
"I was looking around for something to try and save the world" when he became intrigued by research he saw on nutrient signaling, he said.
Just as hormones send signals to the body to do certain things, nutrients also direct, or signal, the body, he said. Ordman saw significant implications for weight loss from nutrient signaling, specifically from the amino acid leucine.
He based his theory on the two-pronged fat-fighting properties of leucine - that the amino acid "activated two parts of the brain. One told the brain to turn up the metabolic rate to burn calories, and another signaled it had had enough to eat."
But that's only half the story. Olive oil, it turns out, also has some amazing potential. The fatty acid in olive oil signals the body to burn fat that's being stored. Secondly, it signals the body to stop storing fat, and secrete the fat it's already got in storage.
Putting these two signals together would be any dieter's dream.
"All they have to do is to eat these two ingredients," Ordman said. "It's potentially miraculous."
The regimen is simple: Ordman advocates taking leucine, known also as BCAA for branched chain amino acid, and olive oil zero to three hours before breakfast, and again before the evening meal. How much depends on age and gender. Mature females are recommended to try one capsule of BCAA and 2.5 teaspoons of olive oil, while young people and mature males should try one-half capsule of BCAA and 1.25 teaspoons of olive oil per dose.
BCAA is relatively inexpensive: It can be purchased online for $19.99 for a bottle of 300 capsules.
A third nutrient, DHA, also is recommended for people who don't have success with the BCAA and olive oil. DHA, an Omega-3 fatty acid, signals baby fat cells not to become fat storage cells and tells potential fat cells to die.
Previous research on nutrient signaling was done on rats. To test his hypothesis that nutrient signaling would work in humans, Ordman tried taking five grams of leucine and olive oil twice daily. In six days, the professor, who is not overweight, lost 9 pounds.
He got in touch with a company to sponsor a pilot study and last spring organized a clinical trial of about 60 people, including Beloit College students and friends from Monticello and Green County. The trial was a double blind study, meaning neither subjects nor those analyzing the results, in this case Ordman, knew which subjects were given placebos and which received pills with active ingredients.
Subjects took 5 grams of BCAA in the study. A person could get the same amount eating a hamburger, but then they get a mixture of amino acids and the "signal gets lost in the noise," Ordman said.
Likewise, Ordman used 1.25 teaspoons of olive oil twice a day. The olive oil can be any brand as long as it is real olive oil - Ordman warned consumers to be careful, as some oils on the market are not real olive oil.
For the clinic trial, Ordman's subjects didn't change how they ate or their exercise habits - they just took the BCAA and olive oil. Subject who don't exercise were asked not to start, so Ordman could determine the effectiveness of the regimen itself.
"The first thing that was very interesting is the people who took the placebo, lost weight because if you think you are going to lose weight, you probably will for a while," he said.
But people who took the pills with the active ingredients lost even more weight.
"And those who took twice the dose lost even more," he said.
People taking active pills were allowed to lose only two pounds per week. Losing more than two pounds a week can be hazardous, Ordman said.
The study was just two weeks long, so the results are not statistically significant, he said. Ordman now is writing a grant proposal for a three-month study. The Institutional Review Board must approve the study. With that approval, Ordman hopes to begin the study, which will include 100 people, next spring.
Ordman said it could be groundbreaking news in the fight against obesity. Dieting doesn't work: Research shows that dieting often causes a rebound effect, he said. Because the human body is built for survival, restricting the amount of food you eat causes the metabolism to conserve calories, which shows up as excess weight. When you resume normal eating, the metabolism already has changed and the body continues to conserve calories.
But that wasn't the case in Ordman's clinical trial. Subjects were studied for two weeks after they stopped taking the pill, and had not regained a significant amount of weight. That suggests that once a person has lost the desired amount of weight, they can stop following the regimen, he said.
"Almost everyone, when they stop dieting, will gain more weight back," he said. "Normal dieting is bad."
And weight-loss products on the market have not been subject to double blind clinical trials. "Most products are simply a way to take your money," he said.
The best way to control weight is through exercise, he noted. While following the regimen will send weight-loss signals to the body, "if you pay attention to what you eat and exercise, that's even better," he said.
There are no expected risks to the regimen, although Ordman advises people visiting his Web site to discuss the plan with their physician. Individuals should not take the regimen on days when they've lost more than two pounds in a seven-day period.
For more information on Ordman's research, including links to purchase BCAA, visit Ordman's Web page at www.beloit.edu/nutrition. Click on Indices, then click on Weight Loss.
"My role model is Don Quixote," he said. "I'm trying to save the world.
"Wouldn't it be miraculous if one could lose weight simply by taking some pills by morning and evening?"
While that claim may sound like a late-night television infomercial, Roc Ordman, biochemistry professor and department chair at Beloit College, has research supporting his hypothesis that a combination of an amino acid and olive oil can help people shed excess pounds.
"I was looking around for something to try and save the world" when he became intrigued by research he saw on nutrient signaling, he said.
Just as hormones send signals to the body to do certain things, nutrients also direct, or signal, the body, he said. Ordman saw significant implications for weight loss from nutrient signaling, specifically from the amino acid leucine.
He based his theory on the two-pronged fat-fighting properties of leucine - that the amino acid "activated two parts of the brain. One told the brain to turn up the metabolic rate to burn calories, and another signaled it had had enough to eat."
But that's only half the story. Olive oil, it turns out, also has some amazing potential. The fatty acid in olive oil signals the body to burn fat that's being stored. Secondly, it signals the body to stop storing fat, and secrete the fat it's already got in storage.
Putting these two signals together would be any dieter's dream.
"All they have to do is to eat these two ingredients," Ordman said. "It's potentially miraculous."
The regimen is simple: Ordman advocates taking leucine, known also as BCAA for branched chain amino acid, and olive oil zero to three hours before breakfast, and again before the evening meal. How much depends on age and gender. Mature females are recommended to try one capsule of BCAA and 2.5 teaspoons of olive oil, while young people and mature males should try one-half capsule of BCAA and 1.25 teaspoons of olive oil per dose.
BCAA is relatively inexpensive: It can be purchased online for $19.99 for a bottle of 300 capsules.
A third nutrient, DHA, also is recommended for people who don't have success with the BCAA and olive oil. DHA, an Omega-3 fatty acid, signals baby fat cells not to become fat storage cells and tells potential fat cells to die.
Previous research on nutrient signaling was done on rats. To test his hypothesis that nutrient signaling would work in humans, Ordman tried taking five grams of leucine and olive oil twice daily. In six days, the professor, who is not overweight, lost 9 pounds.
He got in touch with a company to sponsor a pilot study and last spring organized a clinical trial of about 60 people, including Beloit College students and friends from Monticello and Green County. The trial was a double blind study, meaning neither subjects nor those analyzing the results, in this case Ordman, knew which subjects were given placebos and which received pills with active ingredients.
Subjects took 5 grams of BCAA in the study. A person could get the same amount eating a hamburger, but then they get a mixture of amino acids and the "signal gets lost in the noise," Ordman said.
Likewise, Ordman used 1.25 teaspoons of olive oil twice a day. The olive oil can be any brand as long as it is real olive oil - Ordman warned consumers to be careful, as some oils on the market are not real olive oil.
For the clinic trial, Ordman's subjects didn't change how they ate or their exercise habits - they just took the BCAA and olive oil. Subject who don't exercise were asked not to start, so Ordman could determine the effectiveness of the regimen itself.
"The first thing that was very interesting is the people who took the placebo, lost weight because if you think you are going to lose weight, you probably will for a while," he said.
But people who took the pills with the active ingredients lost even more weight.
"And those who took twice the dose lost even more," he said.
People taking active pills were allowed to lose only two pounds per week. Losing more than two pounds a week can be hazardous, Ordman said.
The study was just two weeks long, so the results are not statistically significant, he said. Ordman now is writing a grant proposal for a three-month study. The Institutional Review Board must approve the study. With that approval, Ordman hopes to begin the study, which will include 100 people, next spring.
Ordman said it could be groundbreaking news in the fight against obesity. Dieting doesn't work: Research shows that dieting often causes a rebound effect, he said. Because the human body is built for survival, restricting the amount of food you eat causes the metabolism to conserve calories, which shows up as excess weight. When you resume normal eating, the metabolism already has changed and the body continues to conserve calories.
But that wasn't the case in Ordman's clinical trial. Subjects were studied for two weeks after they stopped taking the pill, and had not regained a significant amount of weight. That suggests that once a person has lost the desired amount of weight, they can stop following the regimen, he said.
"Almost everyone, when they stop dieting, will gain more weight back," he said. "Normal dieting is bad."
And weight-loss products on the market have not been subject to double blind clinical trials. "Most products are simply a way to take your money," he said.
The best way to control weight is through exercise, he noted. While following the regimen will send weight-loss signals to the body, "if you pay attention to what you eat and exercise, that's even better," he said.
There are no expected risks to the regimen, although Ordman advises people visiting his Web site to discuss the plan with their physician. Individuals should not take the regimen on days when they've lost more than two pounds in a seven-day period.
For more information on Ordman's research, including links to purchase BCAA, visit Ordman's Web page at www.beloit.edu/nutrition. Click on Indices, then click on Weight Loss.
"My role model is Don Quixote," he said. "I'm trying to save the world.
"Wouldn't it be miraculous if one could lose weight simply by taking some pills by morning and evening?"