Danger taking CLA?

[pumpkinhole]

Where do you get that information? No criticism here, but I bought a lot of glutamine and take it before and after every workout. Am I wasting my money then? What studies are there that I can look up?

[rogershaw]

I took a supplement called CLA Plus by Maximuscle many years ago , it was a liquid you had to put 2 drops into a small drink, I took it before going to bed one night and as I was climbing the stairs I missed the step and felt a bit dizzy , thought nothing of it but wasnt something that ever happend to me. just as I was falling asleep my heart felt like it had just run 100 meters on the spot, I jumped out of the bed and was having violent heart palpitations my head was spinning and I seriously thought I was going to die and was desperately trying to catch my breath, I could feel my heart race in my chest like somone was tapping me with a finger speeding up and slowing down......... I have used many substances in my life , never has anything had an effect on me like this.
Its an experience I will never forget.
(I had been using it for 1-2 weeks prior to this happening)

are you sure this was cla??!! it sounds like the exact side effects some people get from using yohimbe! there are a number of cla studies out there showing it's safe. are you sure you weren't using a few "extra" ingredients...

[Tim_G]

I took a supplement called CLA Plus by Maximuscle many years ago , it was a liquid you had to put 2 drops into a small drink, I took it before going to bed one night and as I was climbing the stairs I missed the step and felt a bit dizzy , thought nothing of it but wasnt something that ever happend to me. just as I was falling asleep my heart felt like it had just run 100 meters on the spot, I jumped out of the bed and was having violent heart palpitations my head was spinning and I seriously thought I was going to die and was desperately trying to catch my breath, I could feel my heart race in my chest like somone was tapping me with a finger speeding up and slowing down......... I have used many substances in my life , never has anything had an effect on me like this.
Its an experience I will never forget.
(I had been using it for 1-2 weeks prior to this happening)

My CLA experience was it caused intestinal distress at 5 grams a day. It worked like Exlax and I don't think I was absorbing much from my diet. I was feeling like crap.

The above is symptomatic of GABA. It makes me feel the exact same way but only for a half hour or less. Knew it had this affect on some people so I wasn't concerned.

[nreeldeep]

Anything is dangerous at a high enough dose.

CLA competes with the EFA's for enzym spaces, EFA's have their name because they are needed while CLA is not.

It also affects the cholesterol, and as we all know a too low level of cholesterol is dangerous.


So why take CLA when most studies show little or no benefit from it at the dosages (3-4 grams) in humans and effective dosages (16+ grams) are dangerous?

You're right. ANYTHING is dangerous at a high enough dose. INCLUDING vitamin C. Everybody, even professional bodybuilders debate which supplement is best. One will say one supplement helps him while another bodybuilder will say it's bad for you. If you feel like you are getting results from a supplement, then by all means, continue to use it. Don't throw it away just because somebody else says it doesn't work for them. Each person's physiology is different. CLA is a natural accuring oil. You can't overdose on fatty acids no more than you can overdose on safflower oil, which is what CLA is made from. But at high dosages, it can make you feel very bad for a while and mess up your bowels.

And as far as studies go, you can always find a study out there that will bolster you arguement, whether that be negative of positive. So be cautious when somebody comes on the board and just says point blank: "This supplement is bad for you and will not help you at all." Each person has to find out for himself by experimenting with the supplement before he can be sure. What may not be right for you might just be right for me.

That's the bottom line of supplementation: try it for yourself. NEVER TAKE SOMEBODY ELSES WORD.

[jhov]

Here is a post by me on another thread about CLA supplementation, hope this helps:

There are 2 different active isomers for cla (actually there are many more but these 2 are the ones that get the hype so to speak). Their is the 10,12 isomer and the 9,11 isomer. The 10,12 isomer is the one that is touted for fatloss in animal/human models.(1) The 9,11 isomer is touted by Life Extensionists for its reputed anticancer effects. The dosages required are quite high but there is conflicting data there as well as some say 10-15 grams per/day and at least in one study 4grams was recommended. I would say at least 4 grams a day is necessary.

The other issues with cla is that technically it is a trans fat and conflicting data on cardiovascular health, diabetes and insulin sensitivity can be found with regards to high dose cla supplementation.(2)

It also has other effects with regard to helping with bone formation and reduces inflammation and helps with certain diseases such as lupus (there are some who point to it aiding in the progression of the disease as well).

All in all I think it is a supp that may work in extremely high dosages but cost, effectiveness and health risk are my main concerns with this supp.

1. Isomer-specific regulation of metabolism and PPARgamma signaling by CLA in human preadipocytes.
Brown JM, Boysen MS, Jensen SS, Morrison RF, Storkson J, Lea-Currie R, Pariza M, Mandrup S, McIntosh MK.

2. Efficacy and safety of dietary supplements containing conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) for the treatment of obesity-evidence from animal and human studies.
Larsen TM, Toubro S, Astrup A.

Hope this helps man, good luck
peace
J

[killerstack]

I'm trying to be a little bit anonymous here, there is a pic in my profile though.

You're Fredrik Age?

[rogershaw]

i have used cla-1000 from maximuscle, prolab, eas and many others, up to 6 caps a day (6000mg) and feel no different than taking a strong efa capsule. when i took yohimbe extract from maximuscle (uk has now banned yohimbe), it was way too strong and i felt crap, as described in previous post. gaba can make you feel breathless, but i just get a weird pins and needles effect in my body and sleep better. (also banned in the uk now)

[jazer80]

You're Fredrik Age?

now why wouldn't you just pm him if he clearly wanted to be anonymous???

[rupaniii]

I'm experiencing what i consider phenomenal healing of VERY OLD (over 10 year old) scar tissues (deep muscle , and one un stitched Xacto Knife injury in my thumb) utilizing 4-6gram of CLA per day.

I was taking 8 grams of Vitamin C per day as well.
To set a control, i removed the Vitamin C and indeed there seems to be no change in the rate of healing. Conventional Science says we can't do this.
I'm praying i'm right and it's working. It seems to be. It would improve my quality of life greatly i think.

I'm inclined to add back the vitamin c due to the unknown possible detrimental effects of CLA in hopes that it would protect me.

Thoughts?

[Recawn]

I'm experiencing what i consider phenomenal healing of VERY OLD (over 10 year old) scar tissues (deep muscle , and one un stitched Xacto Knife injury in my thumb) utilizing 4-6gram of CLA per day.

I was taking 8 grams of Vitamin C per day as well.
To set a control, i removed the Vitamin C and indeed there seems to be no change in the rate of healing. Conventional Science says we can't do this.
I'm praying i'm right and it's working. It seems to be. It would improve my quality of life greatly i think.

I'm inclined to add back the vitamin c due to the unknown possible detrimental effects of CLA in hopes that it would protect me.

Thoughts?

What a coincidence, because this thread is almost 5 years old :\

[narraboth]

I have read a paper, forgot where, about taking high amount of CLA caused mice liver swollen.
They gave a bit more fat in food than mice need, the group with CLA got less body fat, the one without got more body fat, good til now. But then they sacrifised the mice, they found the livers in CLA group are much bigger. (there are pictures for that)
CLA doesn't really boost your metabolism rate much. So if unused fat didn't go to your fat tissue, it must have gone to somewhere. Reseachers suggested that CLA works because it decrease lipid transfered to body fat tissue, and increase lipid staying in your liver, which is not great.

Maybe someone can find out the link of it.
surely we are not mice, but there is a risk....
at least I would say if you are going to use CLA, make sure you have low fat diet.

[jansp]

I took a supplement called CLA Plus by Maximuscle many years ago , it was a liquid you had to put 2 drops into a small drink, I took it before going to bed one night and as I was climbing the stairs I missed the step and felt a bit dizzy , thought nothing of it but wasnt something that ever happend to me. just as I was falling asleep my heart felt like it had just run 100 meters on the spot, I jumped out of the bed and was having violent heart palpitations my head was spinning and I seriously thought I was going to die and was desperately trying to catch my breath, I could feel my heart race in my chest like somone was tapping me with a finger speeding up and slowing down......... I have used many substances in my life , never has anything had an effect on me like this.
Its an experience I will never forget.
(I had been using it for 1-2 weeks prior to this happening)

Subdcon - I realize it's been quite a long time since you posted of this, and I don't know if this note will reach you - but I'm wanting to offer this anyway because your post was very very helpful to me these past few days! I too found the same kind of reaction happening and suspected it was possibly related to having recently increased my dosage of Tonalin CLA -- hence my searching online about "too much cla" and finding this thread. Didn't catch on, at first... the unusually light-headed, almost disconnected feelings for much of a day (blood pressure drop, and ongoing at that?? a heart issue?? didn't know -but that's what it felt like and why it was so scary for me) --- that was about a week into the "increased" dosing (I'd gone to two caps before meals, as per directions on the bottle - prior to that, I'd been using only one three times a day...) -- but didn't catch on. Then six days later, I actually passed out (fortunately I was near a bed and got myself horizontal before that actually happened - don't know how long I was out but it was major.) - and took most of the next day to get clear. By then I'd put the threads together --- bp was all over the place, heart acting just weird, thinking ability rather diminished - and generally much like what you wrote of. Clearly for the likes of at least two of us, at least, there is such a thing as "too much CLA" and the good thing is we each found our boundaries without (hopefully!) too much damage being done. One never knows how long posts like this last, nor who may stumble upon them down the line - and I would love for you to know that yours from "back then" really was an instrumental help to me now, in 2012, LOL! And I'll look forward to exploring more on this site as I continue to strive to get healthy and strong (had to register in order to post of this - glad to do!) -- Wishing you well, and thanks again - Jan

[dvr2470]

Subdcon - I realize it's been quite a long time since you posted of this, and I don't know if this note will reach you - but I'm wanting to offer this anyway because your post was very very helpful to me these past few days! I too found the same kind of reaction happening and suspected it was possibly related to having recently increased my dosage of Tonalin CLA -- hence my searching online about "too much cla" and finding this thread. Didn't catch on, at first... the unusually light-headed, almost disconnected feelings for much of a day (blood pressure drop, and ongoing at that?? a heart issue?? didn't know -but that's what it felt like and why it was so scary for me) --- that was about a week into the "increased" dosing (I'd gone to two caps before meals, as per directions on the bottle - prior to that, I'd been using only one three times a day...) -- but didn't catch on. Then six days later, I actually passed out (fortunately I was near a bed and got myself horizontal before that actually happened - don't know how long I was out but it was major.) - and took most of the next day to get clear. By then I'd put the threads together --- bp was all over the place, heart acting just weird, thinking ability rather diminished - and generally much like what you wrote of. Clearly for the likes of at least two of us, at least, there is such a thing as "too much CLA" and the good thing is we each found our boundaries without (hopefully!) too much damage being done. One never knows how long posts like this last, nor who may stumble upon them down the line - and I would love for you to know that yours from "back then" really was an instrumental help to me now, in 2012, LOL! And I'll look forward to exploring more on this site as I continue to strive to get healthy and strong (had to register in order to post of this - glad to do!) -- Wishing you well, and thanks again - Jan

Hey Jan. I had almost the same symptoms that you just described about 3 weeks ago. I had been having the symptoms for 2 weeks and was supplementing with 4 grams of CLA a day. For the longest time i believed that my dizziness was caused by my choline supplements but after reading these posts, i am now considering cla as the possible cause of this

[TrueAmateur]

danger dose of CLA? uhh, i'd like to hear that too. CLA is just an oil (safflower). i've never ever heard of an oil having a 'danger dose'

Well I know fish oil is great for you (more krill oil than fish oil) but it can screw you over big time if you OD on it.