Chitosan have been creating a stir in the medical field. So much has been said about its benefits. The most common of these is its characteristics to aid in weight loss. Those who are in dire need of weight loss are scrambling to take advantage of this latest discovery. The other said benefit of Chitosan is that it improves the cholesterol profile, that is, it increases the good cholesterol level and decreases the bad cholesterol level. 

Chitosan is a form of fiber, chemically processed from the shells and bones of crustaceans like crabs, lobsters, and shrimp.  It is a form of fiber that is not well-digested by the human body.  Studies have noted that as Chitosan passes through the digestive tract, it tends to bond with the ingested fat and carry it out in the stool.   It is for this reason that chitosan has been tried as an agent for lowering cholesterol and reducing weight.  However, almost all of the conducted medical studies on chitosan have revealed results that have been more negative than positive. 

Most of the medical studies on chitosan were conducted to find out if chitosan really does improve the cholesterol profile.  According to two out of three double-blind, placebo controlled, medical studies on chitosan, the compound can modestly improve the cholesterol profile. 

There was also an 8-week double-blind, placebo controlled, medical trial done on 51 women, which found that the use of chitosan at a dose of 1,200 mg twice a day slightly reduced the bad cholesterol, or the LDL, as compared to the placebo.   However, according to a conducted medical study, such intake of chitosan does not actually affect the total of HDL (good) cholesterol levels.   Aside from this, another 8-week trial enrolling 84 people found modest benefits. 

However, one of the most successful medical studies on chitosan, a 4-month, double-blind and placebo controlled trial of 88 individuals, found no significant improvement in cholesterol with 1,000 mg three times a day, of a different chitosan-based product.   The results of this study were supported by the following 10-month double-blind and placebo controlled study which employed a special microcrystalline form of the compound at a dose of 1200 mg twice a day.   Based on these two medical studies on chitosan, the substance failed to improve the cholesterol profile. 

With the two contradicting results, experts conclude that chitosan can help in improving the cholesterol level, but only to a slight extent. 

Another claim about the benefit of chitosan is it being a weight loss supplement.  It is even dubbed as the “fat magnet” on the basis of its supposed ability to bind fat in the digestive tract.   But even with the positive result on some medical studies, the largest, and by far best, designed trial conducted to prove the weight loss claims failed to find benefit.  This well-known study is actually a 6-month, double-blind and placebo controlled study, involving 250 overweight people who were required to use chitosan at a dose of 3 grams a day.  The results of this trial, however, failed to improve weight loss to any meaningful extent, as compared to the placebo.  There are also other medical studies on chitosan that support this result. 

With all these studies and findings, experts conclude that chitosan has no effect at all on the person’s weight, nor it can balance the good and bad cholesterol. But despite all of these, some companies selling chitosan still claim that the product is every effective. It is now up to the consumer to decide whether or not to patronize these products.