Conjugated Linoleic Acid: How CLA Helps With Fat Burning and Immunity
- Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a polyunsaturated fat found in linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid found mostly in plant oils.
- It’s one of the magic ingredients that make grass-fed butter and meat so incredible for boosting your physical performance.
- CLA helps your body build muscle rather than store fat and promotes immunity.
- The best natural sources of CLA are grass-fed beef, butter and full-fat dairy. Animals need real grass and greens in their diets to make CLA, so it’s important to go for grass-fed sources.
If you’ve been following the Bulletproof Diet, or looking for a way to burn more fat on a healthy, whole food diet, you may have come across CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid. It’s one of the magic ingredients that make grass-fed butter and meat so incredible for boosting your physical performance.
As one of the few naturally occurring, healthy trans fats, this little fatty acid can positively impact fat burning and muscle building. What’s better? If you’re not already eating conjugated linoleic acid for its benefits, it’s simple to incorporate from delicious, whole-food sources.
As if you needed another reason to love the benefits of grass-fed butter.
What is CLA?
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a polyunsaturated fat found in linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid found mostly in plant oils.[1] Naturally, CLA is a product of digestion by microbes in the first stomach (rumens) of grass-eating animals such as cows, so is found mainly in grass-fed beef and dairy products. Not only is CLA easy to find on the Bulletproof Diet, it’s also helpful for your body to build muscle rather than store fat.
Conjugated linoleic acid is an omega-6 fatty acid. Diets high in omega-6 tend to be related to health issues, which is why you may have heard to avoid omega-6 rich foods. Your body actually needs some omega-6 from food sources, but in a much smaller dose than the standard American diet dishes out.
Related: Learn Your Lipids: A Quick Guide to Healthy Fats
Fortunately, the properties of CLA cause it to behave more like an omega-3 in the body. The two main active isomers, or types, of CLA are the 9,11 isomer, and the 10,12 isomer, both naturally found in CLA-rich foods.
What are the benefits of CLA?
CLA helps with body fat and weight loss
Say it with me: Butter helps with fat burning! The most well-established benefit of CLA is its ability to help with fat mass, Successful human studies show that doses of 3 to 4 grams daily helps to build muscle mass and may promote body fat loss in healthy, overweight, and obese participants.[2][3][4]
Conjugated linoleic acid can affect your weight management through several pathways. Several studies show that the 10,12 CLA isomer acts on PPAR-gamma receptors to inhibit the genes responsible for fat storage and adipocyte (fat cell) production, which can prevent weight gain to some extent.[5] At the same time, CLA increases your body’s energy expenditure, helping you to burn fat faster than you build it.[6]
Human studies also show that CLA can promote satiety (your feeling of fullness) — part of the reason grass-fed butter is so perfect in Bulletproof Coffee.[7] The theory here is that 10,12 CLA actually inhibit the expression of certain hunger-signaling factors in the hypothalamus area of your brain.[8]
Supports the immune system
Studies show that CLA plays a role in your body’s immune responses, as well as boosting liver health to support detoxification[9][10]
Conjugated linoleic acids may bolster the immune system and help with building resistance to other immune related challenges like allergies.[11]
It may also benefit people suffering from asthma and allergies by supporting airway health.[12] It may also benefit people suffering from asthma and allergies by reducing over-responsive airway inflammation.[13]
These results suggest that consuming CLA could benefit other chronic inflammatory conditions.
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CLA and diabetes, blood sugar & insulin
A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found higher concentrations of 9,11 CLA in adipose tissue was associated with a lower risk of diabetes.[14] Of course, if you’re eating a diet rich in CLA, you’re probably eating less of the toxic processed meat products linked to diabetes.
Many supplements or health sites may lead you to believe that CLA improves insulin response and blood sugar control, however the science behind this claim falls short. In fact, many trials show that in high doses, isomer 10,12 CLA may actually increase insulin resistance, where 9,11 appears to have no effect.[15][16] One interesting study showed that supplementing CLA together with olive oil kept the benefits, but prevented the insulin resistance seen from CLA supplementation alone![17] By keeping sugar swings low, a low-glycemic diet may also help you to safely reap the other dietary benefits of CLA.
Supports strong bones
Another advantage of CLA comes from its bone-protective effects. Dietary CLA may help to slow bone loss by both by promoting the body’s signals to absorb calcium (parathyroid hormone and calcitriol), as well as slowing the activity of osteoclasts, the cells responsible for eating away at your bones when calcium is low.[18][19]
Sounds good. Where do I find CLA?
The best perk of CLA is that it’s ridiculously easy to find on the Bulletproof Diet. The best natural sources of CLA are grass-fed beef, butter and full-fat dairy, with smaller doses found in veal, lamb, turkey and fish. Animals need real grass and greens in their diets to make CLA, so it’s important to go for grass-fed sources. Not only does eating grass-fed beef or dairy give you significantly higher omega-3s and CLA, you also get more vitamins K, D, and A, and less toxins than conventional, grain-fed options. [20]]
A four-ounce serving of grass-fed beef contains around 433 mg of CLA, while grass-fed whole milk contains up to 240 mg. [21][22] Grass-fed dairy products and pastured eggs are excellent vegetarian sources of CLA.
How much should I take?
While most of the effective human trials studying CLA gave participants between three to four grams daily, there isn’t yet a consensus on the best dosage for your diet. On average, non-vegetarian men and women on a standard American diet (SAD) consume 152 and 212 mg daily, although studies show this isn’t enough to bring the benefits.[23][24]
CLA supplements vs whole foods:
With all these amazing findings, CLA supplements are also gaining popularity. Most of the studies on CLA use direct supplements rather than whole foods; after all, if you feed someone grass-fed beef, how could you know if their outcome is due to CLA, or another of its beneficial compounds?
Outside of the lab, whole food sources are your safest route for dietary CLA, since most supplements are made from processing unhealthy vegetable oils such as safflower or sunflower oils. Plus, who doesn’t like an excuse for more butter?
Read Next:
The Ultimate Roadmap to Dairy Products
Ghee vs Butter: Which is Best?