Q:  A friend of mine said that taking CLA really helps with fat loss and contest prep. Any truth to that?

A:  CLA isn't really one of those things that has "smash-bang-boom" results, it's one of those things that is truly good for your body and healthy and helps your body's metabolism, but at the foundation and core of it, not at the "immediate results" level. We always like to break supplements into two unofficial categories:  There are PERFORMANCE supplements and HEALTH and WELL-BEING supplements. This falls under the latter category because you don't have to be an athlete to derive results and it's a very necessary part of a healthy macronutrient assay. Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is what is found in abundance in unsaturated or polyunsaturated fats.  It helps with the entire energy and metabolic cycle and at its very specific level of function, helps make everything more efficient. But it's one piece of the puzzle. CLA has been known to help lean out abdominal fat, however, and studies do show this. However, it won't help you reduce insulin sensitivity and all of the things that contribute to the "cause" of abdominal fats.