You may be giving or getting roses tomorrow for Valentine’s Day. But roses also have a long history of use as a medicinal remedy, as I explained earlier this week. And now, according to two new studies, it appears they can even help you lose inches from your waistline!
Let’s dive right in…
Less weight gain despite ultra-rich diet
For the first new study, researchers from Lund University in Sweden divided mice into two groups. They overfed both groups with an identical high-fat, caloric-dense diet for three months. (This time period is equivalent to a few years in human terms.)
In addition, they gave one group a daily dose of rose hips powder for the study period. The other group did not receive the powder.
After three months, the rose hips group gained significantly less weight than the other group—despite both groups receiving the same diet designed to force the mice to gain weight.
Plus, the rose hips group had:
- Lower blood sugar levels
- Lower insulin levels
- Lower cholesterol levels
- Higher metabolic rate
- Increased energy expenditure (a key component for weight loss)
- Decreased absorption of calories during digestion
The researchers believe these benefits emerged because rose hips prompted the conversion of “white” fat into “brown” fat…
Rose hips triggers “browning” of white fat
For a long time, we didn’t know much about the difference between brown and white fat in humans.
We typically thought white fat just hung around the body, storing caloric fuel that could be converted into energy if needed. Meanwhile, brown fat was blamed for just about every health condition on the planet in the 1980s, as I explained last month.
But we now know that brown fat simply isn’t as bad as it has been made out to be. And, on the contrary, it actually has several key benefits…
For one, when you get cold, brown fat is activated and starts producing heat to help maintain your body temperature. Plus, when brown fat is actively producing heat, it burns up sugar, calories, and branched-chain amino acids, or BCAAs. This action is beneficial for many reasons—especially when you consider how obese people and Type II diabetics tend to have excessive amounts of BCAAs in their bloodstream.
In addition, scientists now know that human brown fat cells can confer some of their metabolic properties onto white fat cells. This “browning” mechanism, which is also called “brite” (brown-to-white) increases the fat-burning properties of white fat cells.
There’s great interest in furthering this browning process, as it could help with obesity, Type II diabetes, and other metabolic disorders.
Now let’s move onto the second study, this time in humans…
Rose hips help “pre-obese” men and women slash belly fat and weight
For this small study, researchers divided 32 “pre-obese” men and women into two groups. One group received 100 mg daily of rose hips extract. And the other group received a placebo. It turns out, the rose hips group significantly decreased their abdominal fat, total fat, and total body weight compared to the placebo group after just 12 weeks. This amount essentially borders on a food quantity. So you may find it easier to take a dry, powdered, water-soluble extract with rose hips that you can add to water or other drinks.
In the end, if you want to fit a little better into your favorite pair of pants this winter, skip the ineffective, over-hyped, mass-produced weight loss supplements sold everywhere. Instead, give rose hips powder a try. Your waistline will thank you.
P.S. For additional uncommonly effective ways to keep the weight off and help prevent Type II diabetes, check out my Integrative Protocol for Defeating Diabetes. To learn more about this innovative, online learning tool, or to enroll today, click here now!
Sources:
“Rose hip supplementation increases energy expenditure and induces browning of white adipose tissue,” Nutrition & Metabolism 2016; 13:91. doi.org/10.1186/s12986-016-0151-5
“Remember brown fat? We may finally know why it’s so darn good for you.” Popular Science, 8/21/19 (popsci.com/brown-fat-bcaa-obesity-diabetes/)
“Daily intake of rosehip extract decreases abdominal visceral fat in preobese subjects: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.” Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2015;8:147–156. doi.org:10.2147/DMSO.S78623