Dangers of Chitosan

What Are The Dangers of Chitosan?

I guess you’ve heard about chitin and chitosan as they are heavily promoted in television infomercials, magazine and newspaper ads, and even on dozens of websites. Numerous claims have it that chitin and chitosan promote effortless weight loss, that is, the chance to shed pounds without sacrificing your favorite foods or engaging in exercise and other activities that might cause you to break a sweat.

Although highly claimed as fat busters, fat absorbers, fat trappers and fat magnets, there are no studies or evidences to support such mentioned claims. Those who are consuming large quantities of chitosan have been doing so without scientific evidence to support that the products really work. There was one lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against a company named SlimAmerica for advertising and violating federal consumer protection laws with the company’s chitin claims. FTC won $8.3 million for that judgment. Several other lawsuits were filed, all against the misleading advertisements of chitosan.

The basis of such judgments against the manufacturers of chitosan is the fact that there are no scientific evidences shown to back up their claims. Although it has been reported that there are no known dangers of chitosan, critics still warn the people about the potential dangers of chitosan and chitin.

Perhaps one of the most common reasons for the critics’ warning about the possible dangers of chitosan is that the composition of the chitin can vary depending on the seawater, including the time of year and the animal it is extracted from. For example, shrimp from different regions can absorb through the natural chelation process different impurities from the surrounding water. The chelation is actually the process to which chitin captures fat in the intestine and sweep them through the body before they are metabolized.

Experts further stressed that there is a great possibility for adverse dangers of chitosan to occur as although many brands advertise that they have pure chitin or chitosan, there is really no pure form. Chitosan-based products are always combined with lots and lots of other things, and those other things are very hard to remove.

The possible dangers of chitosan may also occur to those who have seafood allergies. It’s no wonder that many critics and even the makers of chitosan-based products warn that consumers with seafood allergies should avoid their products as chitosan is derived from crustacean shells.

The proliferation of chitosan further worries many the diet experts who believe that the promotional claims of the chitosan-based products offer false hope to very desperate, overweight people. There is a possibility that these people may hope that the chitosan might have even some small effect.

And, as what I’ve said earlier, there is great possibility for some adverse dangers of chitosan to occur as scientific evidence just doesn’t support their use. It was in fact found out by some thorough researches that the studies conducted on chitosan were uncontrolled and involved just anecdotal evidence. There were no high-quality, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials to support the efficacy of the product. Much worse is that those chitosan studies failed to comply with the minimum accepted scientific standards.

Were the various chitosan weight loss products as good as fat binder as their claims assert, they would also likely cause massive diarrhea, constipation, and strip the body of essential fat soluble, and these are just among the potential dangers of chitosan.