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New science suggests taking a multivitamin may help you lose weight.
There’s still no magic pill for weight loss, but taking a multivitamin might be the secret to a slimmer you.
In a new study of more than 85 women categorized as having obesity in China, those who took a multivitamin (with 29 vitamins and minerals, much like a “one-a-day” you find on store shelves), while continuing to eat their normal diets, lost an average of about three and a half pounds over six months. Those who took a placebo lost nothing.
The findings, reported in February 2010 in theInternational Journal of Obesity,add to a growing field of research that links vitamins and minerals to weight loss. A study published in 2008 in the British Journal of Nutrition, for example, found that dieting adults who were categorized as having obesity who also took a multivitamin and mineral supplement lost the same amount of weight as dieters who took a placebo during a 15-week calorie-restricted eating plan. But the female supplement-takers reported feeling less hungry, said lead author Angelo Tremblay, Ph.D., an obesity researcher at Laval University in Quebec City. Being less hungry might make it easier to keep the weight off, says Tremblay.
One plausible theory as to why multivitamins might help promote weight loss, suggests Tremblay, is that when your body is low on vitamins and minerals, your appetite fires up-prompting you to eat more to replenish the nutrients you’re missing. By staying topped off with nutrients, on the other hand, it may be possible to keep a runaway appetite under control.
Nutrition experts say it’s best to get nutrients from food, but when dieters cut back on calories they are more likely to miss the mark on some nutritional requirements. So although a supplement on its own won’t melt the pounds away, it can help ensure that vitamin and mineral deficiencies aren’t contributing to extra weight.
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