Overview
Raspberry ketone is sometimes known as rheosmin or frambinone. It is a natural ingredient which provides red raspberries their powerful aroma. This substance could also be found in other fruits like kiwis, peaches, grapes, apples, other berries, vegetables such as rhubarb and the bark of yew, maple and pine trees.
Without realising, most people are actually consuming small amounts of raspberry ketones indirectly, either from fruits or as flavouring added into soft drinks, ice-cream and other processed food.
Recently, raspberry ketones gained popularity as a weight loss supplement.
Production
The raspberry ketones in commercial supplements are not actually derived from raspberries. Extracting from raspberries is an extraordinarily expensive process because around 90 pounds (41kg) of raspberries would be needed in order to obtain just a single dose! In fact, 2.2 pounds (1kg) of whole raspberries only contains around 1-4mg worth of raspberry ketones. That is 0.0001-0.0004% of the total weight! Therefore, the raspberry ketones found in supplements are usually synthetically manufactured.
How Does It Work?
The molecular structure of raspberry ketones mimics two other molecules, capsaicin (found in chilli pepper) and synephrine. Both these molecules can boost metabolism. Hence, researchers speculated that raspberry ketones could probably produce similar effect.
Raspberry ketones were found to increase fat breakdown and increase release of hormone adiponectin in test-tube studies of fat cells in mice. Adiponectin is released by fat cells and may play a role in regulating metabolism and blood sugar levels. People with normal weight usually have much higher levels of adiponectin than those who are overweight. Studies found that people with low adiponectin tend to have higher risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and even heart disease. Thus, it seems convincing that raised adiponectin levels could help people to lose weight and lower the risk of comorbidities. In short, the proposed mechanisms of raspberry ketones include preventing breakdown of carbohydrates, increasing metabolism, and reducing appetite. However, there is still lack of reliable scientific evidence that raspberry ketones improve weight loss in human beings.
Dosage and Preparation
Raspberry ketone supplements are available in capsule, tablet, liquid, and powder form. Manufacturers recommend dosages of 100–400 mg, 1–2 times per day, which is notably higher than what a person would consume in a regular serving of fruit or in the form of flavorings.
Prepared by: Chew Ee Wei, a HTM Pharmacist.
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