CHITOSAN
Chitosan has been popular in nutritional industry for years. What makes
it so popular in the industry? What is its benefit?
WHAT IS CHITOSAN / CHITIN?
Chitin is a natural biopolymer derived from exoskeletons of crustaceans and
also from cell walls of fungi and insects. Chitin is a linear beta 1,4-linked
polymer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc). Chitosan is different from chitin;
chitosan is a collective name representing a family of de-N-acetylated chitins
deacetylated to different degrees. Both chitin, chitosan and their modified
derivatives have been applied in medicine, agriculture, food, and non-food
industries. [1]

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHITOSAN?
Chitosan is particularly interested in the nutritional industry when it was
introduced into the market in the 1990s. Health food supplement
manufacturers suggested its potential as a nutritional adjunct for weight
management. They emphasized favorable results from a few studies; they
claimed that chitosan was a beneficial effect on weight loss, cholesterol,
ulcers, osteoporosis and blood pressure. They hypothesized that the electrical
charges that chitosan carries may bind to the negative charges on bile acids
and fatty acids, resulting in the hypocholesterolemic (cholesterol lowering)
effect. In addition to enhancing cholesterol excretion, this ionic bonding
resulted in excretion of fat, along with its associated phospholipids,
monoglycerides and other fatty acids.

How much chitosan should a person take to be effective to prevent the fat
absorption? If a person ingests two pounds of New York Steak, will 1 g of
chitosan be enough? As this is a swelling polymer, definitely, we don't want to
take too much of chiton  to block our GI tract!! This article is not suggesting
that chitosan supplements have no benefit on weight management. In fact, a
recent review article assessed results of 14 randomized controlled trials that
included 1,131 overweight or obese adults and the authors found that those
who received chitosan had an average weight loss of almost 4 pounds more
than those on placebo in the short term, and their cholesterol and blood
pressure levels also decreased more than those in the placebo group. And,
they didn't observe any side effects in the group taking chitosan. [2]

WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFEFCTS OF CHITOSAN?
If chitosan really can  prevent the fat absorption (as indicated in the recent
report), it can also prevent the absorption of other fat-soluble substances
(e.g. fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acid) and negative-charged
substance (chitosan is positively-charged).

WHAT ARE OTHER POTENTIAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF
CHITOSAN?
While almost everybody focuses chitosan application on weight management
or obesity prevention or whatever, two research groups are busy to find more
benefits of chitosan:

An Indian research group depolymerized chitosan to obtain water-soluble
low-molecular weight chitosan and chitooligosaccharides. They found that
water-soluble low-molecular weight chitosan and chitooligosaccharides
inhibited the growth of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells and tumor-induced
neovascularization. [3] Almost at the same time, a Japanese research group
also found the low-molecular-weight chitosans or oligochitosan might be useful
in preventing tumor growth through the activation of intestinal immune
functions. [4]

References

[1] Tharanathan RN et al Chitin--the undisputed biomolecule of great
potential. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2003;43(1):61-87.
[2] Ni Mhurchu C, et al. Chitosan for overweight or obesity. The Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews 2005, Issue 3.
[3] Harish Prashanth KV et al, Depolymerized products of chitosan as potent
inhibitors of tumor-induced angiogenesis. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2005 Feb
11;1722(1):22-9. Epub 2004 Dec 15.

[4] Maeda Y et al Antitumor effects of various low-molecular-weight chitosans
are due to increased natural killer activity of intestinal intraepithelial
lymphocytes in sarcoma 180-bearing mice. J Nutr. 2004 Apr;134(4):945-50.
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