Is cheese wiz healthy? Here’s the truth about her CLA.

When Cheez Whiz first appeared on grocery store shelves in the early 1950s, he was Long storage life, convenience and versatility are praised. But over the years, the properties that made Kraft Cheese so popular have given it a reputation as the first American product Fast food.

But now, a small community of Influencers on fitness Trying to retrieve Cheez Whiz, Promote it It can be to contain high levels of a certain fatty acid Help lose weight Fitness, and maybe even fight cancer.

This ingredient is called CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid, which is found naturally in meat and dairy products and has been shown to be Helps burn fat and build muscle. The high levels of CLA in Cheez Whiz earned Producer A. Spot on Healthy Fast Food lists. Even the Washington Post called CLA a “Food to ward off cancer” Back in 1989. But is it really good for us?

CLA is an important nutrient that most people consume in their regular meat and legume diets. Research is still underway to determine its true benefits, however Weight loss supplement CLA It’s becoming more and more popular as the word that can help people achieve their fitness goals has spread.

Cheez Whiz contains 5 milligrams of CLA Per gram of fat. In comparison, homogenized milk contains 5.5 milligrams of CLA, beef 3 to 4 milligrams, chicken 0.9 milligrams, seafood is less than 1 milligram, and cheeses range from 3.5 to 6 milligrams.

A spokesperson for Kraft Heinz, owner of Cheez Whiz, declined to comment on the product’s CLA levels. But health experts say just because a product contains a high level of CLA doesn’t mean Cheez Whiz should be considered healthy.

“I would never encourage taking Cheez Whiz,” said Dusty Marie Narducci, an assistant professor at the University of South Florida School of Medicine who also works as a family medicine and primary care sports medicine and sports team physician at the University of South Florida. “The other ingredients of Cheez Whiz are likely to interfere with any health benefits potentially related to the high level of CLA.”

CLA at Cheez Whiz likely comes from its ingredients From Growing cheese, canola oil, and protein concentrate, Narduchi said, adding that unhealthy ingredients include modified food starch, corn syrup, sorbic acid and added color.

CLAs are polyunsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids It is characterized by several different isomers, Or formula compounds, but with different molecular arrangement and properties.

CLA is technically a polyunsaturated fatty acid, and the FDA does not classify it as a trans fat. It was classified as “generally considered safe” by the Food and Drug Administration in 2008, with the excuse from listing it as a trans fat on nutritional labels, according to A report published in Nutrients.

The The best CLA food sources are beef and full-fat dairy productsNarucci said, as there is naturally. Lower concentrations are found in most meat, fish and other dairy products, and it can be CLA Synthetically produced from oils rich in linoleic acid, Such as safflower, sunflower, corn, and soybean oils, which are a possible source of CLA in Cheez Whiz.

Supplementation with CLA, often It is marketed as a weight loss or muscle-building aidAnother source. But, despite numerous studies, CLA is Efficacy in these areas is showing mixed results.

“A lot of the hype came from the results of animal studies that showed things like reduced food intake and decreased fat production,” said Ali Webster, dietitians and assistant director of nutrition communications at the International Food Information Council Foundation, a nonprofit. Partially Funded By food companies. “However, these results have not been replicated consistently in humans.”

Some studies have shown, Webster said CLA supplementation has negative effects on glucose metabolism, HDL (good) cholesterol levels and inflammation, while others have suggested positive effects, such as fat loss and body weight, bad cholesterol (LDL) reduction and anti-inflammatory effects.

Most studies recommend around 3 grams of CLA per day “to achieve modest fat loss,” Narduchi said, adding that it would be difficult to get that much from the regular diet. The average adult intake of CLA is about 0.2 grams per day From food sources.

Too much CLA can cause fatigue and digestive problems. Narduchi said that people with diabetes or heart disease, or people who take blood-thinning medications, should not take CLA supplements.

CLA supplements may also contain additives that users should be aware of, although the risks are low, said Stephan Esser, an exercise and spine physician in Jacksonville, Florida, and a team physician at the University of North Florida.

Acer said most sports medicine physicians do not recommend CLA supplementation as a “primary intervention,” because “the health benefits of CLA have not been conclusively proven in the scientific literature.”

When it comes to weight loss and fitness, Esser said, “A lot of people are looking for a miracle cure. Although CLA can moderately help speed up weight loss compared to a placebo – that’s 0.2 pounds a week or 3 pounds in total more than a treatment. Placebo – No supplement can replace a healthy lifestyle or be as robust as excellent nutrition and daily exercise to achieve weight loss goals. ‘

Webster said experts attribute the mixed science about the effectiveness of CLA to the fact that many studies have been focusing on animals, and the results may not necessarily apply to humans.

“Although the significant benefits have not been consistently shown in humans, the benefits that have been observed in animal studies continue to generalize to people,” she said. “This is misleading and may be harmful.”

The “potential mechanisms” of how CLA alters body composition Involve changes in metabolism“It helps reduce lipogenesis (lipogenesis) and promotes lipolysis (fat breakdown),” said Narduchi.

Research on CLA for weight loss reveals that it may be Increased oxidation of skeletal musclesOr, help burn fat and energy. Some CLA isomers can increase lipolysis, or breakdown of fats, and may also contribute to this Altering gene expression or control, Which helps reduce body fat. CLA It may also help reduce obesity in the abdominal area By increasing energy expenditure, and Helps replenish energyOr, “glycogen recombination,” after exercise, Narduchi said.

Besides the potential weight loss and fitness, researchers are also looking into the effectiveness of CLA in fighting cancer. Studies show that it can Reducing tumor spread in some cancer cells And the It may reduce the risk of breast cancer And other types of cancer.

However, these studies have focused on animals, not humans.

“It has been hypothesized that CLA alters fatty acid metabolism, which in turn may affect the behavior of cancer cells,” said Gary Ding, medical director of integrative medicine services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

“At this point, it is only a hypothesis based on laboratory studies without the support of any controlled human studies,” Ding said. “Many of the substances have been shown to be active in laboratory studies but not active when ingested by humans.”

Ding said he does not recommend taking CLA supplements for cancer patients “until there are good human studies; we don’t know the net benefit or harm of consuming additional CLA (for cancer treatment).”

Ding, like Webster, emphasized that in CLA research, conclusions are often incorrectly attributed to real-life situations.

Medical experts say more research is needed on CLA to truly understand its benefits for weight loss or as a cancer treatment. Until then, they say healthy diets and exercise are the best medicine.

“There may be some benefits to body composition, but additional studies need to be done to compare consumption of CLA alone, physical exercise alone and consumption of CLA combined with physical exercise to determine if there is a significant benefit,” Narduchi said. “We hope these studies will be more coordinated so that we can apply them to real-life situations.”

For optimum health, she added, “diet, diet, diet and exercise are the key.” And this diet should include foods naturally rich in CLA – and may not contain Cheez Whiz.