MCT powder - Mysterious and magical!

2024-01-12
When losing weight, you will hear about medium-chain triglycerides and ketogenic diet. Medium-chain triglycerides are a new functional food ingredient. It is glycerin composed of saturated medium-chain fatty acids with a carbon chain length of 6-12. Triesters, mainly derived from palm kernel oil, coconut oil, breast milk, milk and their products, have special metabolic pathways.
01. Medium-chain triglycerides and ketogenic diet

The ketogenic diet is a diet with a high proportion of fat, a low proportion of carbohydrates, and appropriate protein and other nutrients.
The main principle of the ketogenic diet is: replace carbohydrates (rice flour sugar) with fat. After the body consumes glucose, it slowly begins to burn fat to provide energy for the body. The body slowly enters the ketogenic state, and finally, the body enters the state of ketosis. A state of high-speed fat burning.
The medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) diet is a type of modified ketogenic diet. By using medium-chain fatty acids instead of long-chain fatty acids (because medium-chain fatty acids are absorbed and utilized more quickly, more ketone bodies can be produced). Reducing the total amount of fat allows for a higher ratio of carbohydrates and protein.

02. Medium chain triglycerides and weight loss
Because medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, they can be metabolized very quickly by the liver, quickly activating fat-burning factors in the body, also called ketone bodies, allowing the body to accelerate fat burning, thereby achieving the purpose of weight loss.
When studying the effect of MCT on weight loss and body composition, a randomized controlled trial was conducted on healthy adults for 3 consecutive weeks. It was found that compared with the LCT group, the MCT group lost weight (p<0.001) and reduced waist circumference ( p<0.001), hip circumference (p= 0.002), total fat (p<0.001), visceral fat (p<0.001), total fat (p<0.001).
MCT will reduce the body's appetite and enhance satiety, so the weight loss and fat oxidation will be more significant.