Introducing 'Raspberry Ketones'
A Well Known Food Additive becomes and Potential Weight Loss Supplement - Questions about Safety
By contributing Author: Vimal Gobin.
Raspberries often grouped with blackberries and blackberry-raspberry hybrids grow naturally in all temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The fruits are commercially grown in the United States, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Historically, the cultivation of raspberries began around the 4th century A.D. introduced by the Romans. The cultivation of raspberries then spread throughout the Roman Empire. Towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, numerous new cultivars were developed by gardeners and nurseries for the intensive growth of the fruits. This led to the introduction of domesticated raspberries. Today, two main types of cultivated raspberries are grown widely: primocane fruiting raspberries and floricane fruiting raspberries. Primocane fruiting raspberries, also known as ever-bearing raspberries, are less common.
With that said, when it comes to the health benefits of raspberries, the list is quite extensive. For a start, these small fruits provide a wide range of vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients in a small package and although as is the case with most types of fruits, they are heavy in sugar and not calorically light, raspberries are considered to be an aggregate fruit. This means that each berry is actually a collection of many smaller individual fruits each containing a seed and plenty of different vitamins and minerals. Raspberries are the best-known source of ellagic acid.
The health benefits of raspberries
Scientifically, a single serving of raspberries is approximately one cup of berries. This can roughly translate to 30-40 berries, depending upon the size of the fruit. In one cup of raspberries, you’ll find two thirds of your daily-recommended intake of the crucial nutrient manganese and about half of the recommended dose of vitamin C. If you are not aware of the function of these compounds in the human body, vitamin C and manganese are both responsible for several crucial body processes not to mention that vitamin C plays a major role in regulating and promoting healthy immune system functions. A single serving of raspberries also contains about a third of your daily dose of dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is the substance commonly found in fruits and vegetables that helps keep your gastrointestinal system flowing smoothly while providing other benefits as well. Finally, a cup of raspberries contains sizable portions of your daily-recommended intake of vitamins B2 and B3, potassium, magnesium and copper.
Raspberries are quite healthy fruits containing no sodium or fat. They do however contain natural sugars, which provide 60 calories in a single serving. It is worth noting that the sugar naturally contained in fruits have a glycemic index of less than 55, as compared to glucose which has a GI of 100. The lower the GI, the slower the sugar is released in the bloodstream and the longer the energy is available for use instead of being stored as fat.
So far, no health risks have been associated with the consumption of the small fruits.
Raspberries could beat cancer, a latest health research reveals
According to one of the latest researches based on the health benefits of raspberries, scientists are now considering the possibility that raspberries could go on and prove to be a future tool in the fight against cancer. New research reveals that extracts of the summer fruit kill stomach and colon cancer cells. In a preliminary study, 90% of these cells were destroyed when exposed to an extract of the red Meeker raspberries, a popular variety of raspberries in the United States. Antioxidants in the fruit were also shown to kill breast cancer cells. This study was conducted by researchers at the Clemson University in the U.S. The results of the experiments suggested that while the antioxidants in the red fruit explain some of the effects, other as yet unidentified compounds seem to be at work as well. The research team now hopes to start further studies to pinpoint the other cancer-fighting compounds in the fruit.
Raspberry ketones, an introduction
Raspberry ketone is a natural phenolic compound. It has been demonstrated to be the primary aroma compound of red raspberries. Currently, the compound is used in a number of commercial applications including perfumery, in cosmetics and as a food additive to impart a fruity odor. Raspberry ketones are considered one of the most expensive natural flavor components used in the food industry. It costs around 20,000 USD per kg. In 1965, the Food and Drug Administration gave raspberry ketones a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status.
In terms of the nature of the chemical compound, raspberry ketones are synthesized in plants from coumaroyl-CoA. Extraction of pure raspberry ketone is usually 1 - 4 mg per kg of raspberries. This basically means that the natural abundance of raspberry ketone is very low. As such, raspberry ketones are prepared industrially by a variety of methods from chemical intermediates. One of the most common methods is the use of a crossed aldol-catalytic hydrogenation. In acetone and sodium hydroxide, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde can form the Alpha, Beta-unsaturated ketone. This then goes through catalytic hydrogenation to produce raspberry ketones. This method is economically wise because it produces a 99% yield.
When given to mice in relatively high doses, raspberry ketones have been shown to prevent high-fat-diet-induced elevations in body weight. The high dose effect is reported to stem from the alteration of lipid metabolism, increasing norepinephrine-induced lipolysis.
Raspberry Ketones, a natural weight loss support
If you're a Dr. Oz fan then you've probably heard him discussing the health benefits of raspberry ketones at some point or another. The trend of using this compound as a weight loss supplement is quickly spreading much like fascination with acai a few years ago. Raspberry ketone, however, isn't just a flash-in-the-pan movement. It has enough science behind it to give it the official stamp of being a real weight loss aid.
As the name suggests, raspberry ketones comes from the raspberry fruit. It is, as we mentioned above, the primary compound responsible the sweet smell of raspberries. In addition, raspberry ketone contains a substance that is very similar to synephrine. In the fitness world, synephrine is marketed as a powerful weight loss support supplement. Broadly speaking, synephrine has stimulatory effects that may help promote increased metabolic rate, support a normal, healthy appetite and support energy enhancement. With all three of these benefits working, any person in need to lose their body fat will eat less and burn more calories with regular exercise and a healthy, low-calorie diet. Because raspberry ketones resemble synephrine, it has been suggested that it may help support a similar weight-loss effect. It is however a natural ingredient without the harsh side effects of the common synthetic diet compounds.
Raspberry ketones scientifically known as 4-(4-hydroxylphenyl) butan-2-one is already in the market. It is currently far more popular than most of the fat-burning formulas that lack the scientific stamp. In a recent study conducted on mice, scientists determined that raspberry ketones increased noradrenaline-induced fat-loss. This led the researchers to conclude that this weight-loss support substance works through the enzyme lipase, which is responsible for freeing fatty acids from the fat cell during the process of fat utilization. This can mean that for people already on a solid nutrition and training program, adding a raspberry ketone supplement may help the fat cells to release fatty acid. Yet another study also noted that raspberry ketone is similar in structure to capsaicin. Capsaicin, which can help boost metabolism, is found in chili peppers and cayenne peppers.
Raspberry ketones, the science behind the chemical
Once in a while, researchers and scientists discover some natural ingredients with properties and health benefits that take the world by surprise. They are powerful, remarkable and most importantly a part of our natural world. Anyone would be aware of the fact that foods, in general, have amazing effects on our bodies. For a start, they provide us with energy. They also help our bodies recover, heal and strengthen the immune system. Some foods can also help us lose fat. Indeed, of the many common and familiar foods we've been eating all our lives, some have natural secrets and one good example of such a food is what we know as the delicious raspberries.
Razberi-K, the patented extract form of raspberries, is today found in many natural weight-loss supplements. If you look into the research and experiments conducted on the small deliciously red fruits, you'll find raspberries, particularly raspberry ketones, have some significant health benefits for those interested in losing fat including:
1. Increased lipolysis also known as fat breakdown
2. Increased resting energy expenditure and
3. Increased fat loss during dieting
European red raspberry (Rabus idaeus) is a common fruit that has been widely consumed in numerous countries for centuries. Its molecular structure is similar to capsaicin, found in chili peppers, which has potent thermogenic properties. Like many other fruits, raspberries contain a number of biologically active constituents that are beneficial to health. Raspberry ketone is one of these constituents only that it is unique to raspberries and appears to have the potential to decrease body fat. According to a study carried out in 2005 when raspberry ketone was fed at various dosages to growing mice for 10 weeks, the compound resulted in decreased weights of the liver and visceral adipose tissues i.e., fat around the waist. This study was further elaborated after which research studies were convinced that raspberry ketones have at least two anti-obesity effects: 1) decreased absorption of dietary fat and 2) increased norepinephrine-induced lipolysis or fat breakdown.
As far as decreased fat absorption, raspberry ketone given at concentrations of 1 to 20 mg/mL after oral administration of corn oil reduced the elevation of plasma triacylglycerol in the mice and inhibited pancreatic lipase in rats. This suggests that raspberry ketone suppresses dietary fat absorption by inhibiting trioleoylglycerol hydrolysis. As for enhanced fat breakdown, raspberry ketone did not bind to beta 1, 2, or 3-adrenergic receptors. This is a good thing since binding to beta-receptors typically co-stimulates the cardiovascular system. According to this study, raspberry ketone also increased the translocation of hormone sensitive lipase from the cytosol to the lipid droplets in fat cells.
Put simply, raspberry ketone helps increase fat breakdown and increase fat burning by a number of different mechanisms. However, it does so without stimulating the cardiovascular system, in stark contrast to most of the other commonly used thermogenic ingredients.
More on the scientific studies into the structure and properties of raspberry ketones
Raspberries contain a substance that resembles synephrine. Chemists call it 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl) butan-2-one. For real people who are not really into the highly technical scientific jargon, in everyday life, this chemical compound is known as raspberry ketone. According to researchers at the Japanese Ehime University and the Kanebo Company, this compound stimulates fat burning. In mice, at least, since the original study was conducted on mice.
Raspberry ketone is a fat loss ingredient already widely present in the weight loss industry today. It is mostly sold as the standard Razberi-K , Absolute Raspberry Ketone , or Raspberry Ketone Lean. According to American HealthNews.com, raspberry ketone is currently the best selling slimming supplement, although there are new supplements like green coffee extract that are quickly catching up.
In 2005 Japanese researchers published the results of an animal study, which showed that raspberry ketone promotes weight loss. The researchers set up the study because of the resemblance between the structural formula of the raspberry ketone compound and that of synephrine, adrenalin and ephedrine.
The Japanese researchers conducted the study using a group of mice fed food containing large amounts of extra fat for six weeks. Once the mice got used to the fat, they quickly put on weight, just like humans would under similar circumstances, they were given 1 percent raspberry ketone in their diet. This resulted in a decrease in the increase in body weight. The conclusion was simple. Adding raspberry ketone led to a reduction in growth of some fat tissues.
The Japanese also did experiments with white fat cells to measure the amount of fatty acids released in relation to the concentration of glycerol. This revealed that the higher the glycerol concentration, the more stored fatty acids were released by the fat cells. However, if the fat cells were not exposed to noradrenalin, the raspberry ketone showed no effect. Clearly, raspberry ketone needs noradrenalin to work.
The suggested and widely accepted mechanism of how raspberry ketone works, as a weight loss ingredient is that it acts via the enzyme hormone-sensitive lipase. This enzyme is activated via the beta-adrenergic receptors. Hormone-sensitive lipase gets fat cells to mobilize and excrete fatty acids.
What is important, in any nutritional supplement or weight loss program, is to understand the long term safety and effects on your body.
About the author:
Vimal Gobin is a researcher and writer on several topics, including body fat reduction and nutritional supplement safety. He is actively investigating the long term effects of several nutritional supplements, including African Mango, Raspberry Ketones, and Acai Berry.
About Raspberry Ketones:
Raspberry Ketones are a dietary supplement that has been approved by the FDA as a food additive. In April, 2012, Raspberry Ketone became a popular weight loss supplement. The CASR has been actively researching and investigating the efficacy of this popular product in an effort to determine the safety of it's long term use.
The Center for Applied Scientific Research (CASR) is a Collaborative effort. Any changes, criticisms, or additional articles can be sent to us.
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