Chitosan is frequently sold in tablet form at health stores as a "fat attractor": It is supposed to have the capability of attracting fat from the digestive system and expelling it from the body so that users can, it is claimed, lose weight without eating less.Everyone enjoys a good fatty meal from McDonald's, KFC, or any other fast food restaurant from time to time. Or maybe just a bag of chips, a candy bar, or an ice cream cone... Specific studies which tested the effects of chitosan as a weight loss supplement on humans were near to impossible to find.
Ads for chitosan claim it can lower cholesterol and produce rapid weight loss by blocking the absorption of fat. Is this true?
Chitosan and chitin are polysaccharide polymers containing more than 5,000 glucosamine and acetylglucosamine units, respectively, and their molecular weights are over one million Daltons. Chitin is found in fungi, arthropods and marine invertebrates.