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MCT: Do they really make it easier to lose weight?

Much has been written in the past few years about the benefits of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in foods such as fish. However, far less is known about a unique group of fats known as medium chain triglycerides.

Medium chain triglycerides (commonly known as MCT) are found in tropical oils such as coconut and palm kernel oils. Butter also contains MCT. They're also available in concentrated form as a liquid food supplement.

Some regard medium chain triglycerides as "light fats" or even "fatless fats", which is why you'll see them promoted as a way to make losing weight faster and easier. But are they really that effective?

Medium chain triglycerides

A triglyceride contains three fatty acids (that's where the tri in triglyceride comes from). Each fatty acid consists of many carbon atoms joined together. When these fatty acids are burned for energy, the carbon atoms (together with their associated hydrogen atoms) are removed two at a time.

Medium-chain fatty acids contain between 6 and 12 carbons. This distinguishes them from long-chain fatty acids with 14 or more carbons in the chain. Once the component atoms of a fatty acid have been broken from each other and combined with oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water, it is said to have been oxidized. Essentially, the terms "fat oxidation" and "fat burning" both mean the same thing.

Your body is made up of millions of tiny cells. Think of each cell like a miniature city. Inside each "city", you'll find the power stations of the cell — known as the mitochondria (pronounced my-toe-kon-dree-a). It's inside the mitochondria where fat is eaten up and turned into energy.

Pour some oil into a cup of water, and you'll see that the two don't mix. That's because long-chain fatty acids are hydrophobic (pronounced high-dro-foe-bik). In order for fat to get into the mitochondria — which consists mainly of water — it needs help from an enzyme called carnitine. Carnitine "drags" fat into the mitochondria, where it gets burned for energy.

One of the main reasons for the interest in MCT as an aid to weight loss is the fact that medium-chain fatty acids are water-soluble. This means they can be burned without the help of carnitine.

MCT also contain fewer calories. One gram of a long-chain fatty acid provides around 9.4 calories. In contrast, one gram of a medium-chain fatty acid with eight carbons in the chain provides only eight calories...

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