What is Cell Nutritionals Conjugated Linoleic Acid?
This is a review of one of the many Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) products currently available – this one produced by Cell Nutritionals.
CLA has long been regarded as being useful for helping to promote weight loss by enabling the body to build lean muscle and burn calories. It also helps you to maintain a healthy immune system and control your blood cholesterol levels. There is also some evidence to suggest that CLA might increase vitamin A (retinol) storage in the liver.
We generally obtain CLA from beef and dairy products, as to a lesser extent from poultry and eggs. That can obviously present something of a problem for vegetarians and vegans. Fortunately, although vegetable fats generally don’t contain much CLA, it can be extracted from the linoleic acid found in sunflower or safflower oils.
Cell Nutritionals Conjugated Linoleic Acid’s active ingredient comes from Safflower oil and so should provide a viable option for vegans and vegetarians – but does it? As you will see, anyone wanting to avoid animal products should consume this supplement with care.
Ingredients
Per serving:
- Safflower oil 2000mg
- Contains 74 – 80% CLA 1480 -1800mg
Other ingredients:
Gelatin, vegetable glycerine, Natural Caramel color, Titanium Dioxide color
Dosage
Take 2 softgels twice daily, preferably with meals
What is the Cost?
You can purchase a container of 120 softgel capsules online, directly from the manufacturer, for $11.93.
This is a fairly average price for this type and potency of CLA supplement.
Manufacturer’s Guarantee
Cell Nutritionals appears to be pretty confident about the quality of their product, and claims that they do a lot more than the standard industry testing to ensure this. Exactly what this testing entails is not spelled out.
However, the company does offer a full refund should you be unsatisfied and return unopened product (and no more than one opened container) within 60 days of ordering the product directly from their website. However, you will be responsible for any shipping costs.
Our Final Review of Cell Nutritionals Conjugated Linoleic Acid
We were pleased to note that Cell Nutritionals indicated clearly just how much of the active ingredient you would consume when taking a full serving of their Conjugated Linoleic Acid product. Many competitive products only indicate the amount of Safflower oil each capsule contains – and the quantity of CLA is usually significantly less.
The dosage of CLA in each serving appears to meet the recommended dosage in terms of the research that has been undertaken into the efficacy of CLA.
That said, we were concerned that the source of the gelatin used in the capsules was not indicated. By default, we would therefore expect the capsules to be made from bovine gelatin – which means that vegetarians and vegans should avoid it.
One last point: on the Cell Nutritionals website, this product is presented as a CLA 1000mg product. The 1000mg refers to the quantity of Safflower oil in each capsule – not to the quantity of CLA, or active ingredient, in each softgel.