British scientists try out new foods to help people lose weight and produce satiety

British scientists are expected to develop "slimming food." This kind of food can "deceive" people's senses, make people feel full, and then control appetite and help obese patients lose weight.

â–  Improved food

The British Food Institute is dedicated to developing "improved foods" that reduce the rate of digestion, in order to force the body's digestive system to send signals to the brain to suppress appetite.

Food Institute expert Peter Wilde told the Associated Press on the 23rd: “This kind of food can deceive you, and you think you have eaten too much when you are not full.”

Through a series of studies on the body's process of digesting fat, Wild believes that he can turn various fat-containing foods into "improved foods," whether bread or yogurt. If it goes well, this improved food will be available within a few years.

Scientists in North America and some European countries are also conducting research on appetite control.

Some food and pharmaceutical companies are working to help obese patients suppress appetite. South Africa has a plant where indigenous people resist hunger by chewing on this plant. In 2004, Unilever imported this plant from South Africa for food production. Relevant surveys have shown that people who eat this kind of food consume less than 1,000 calories in 15 days compared with people who eat ordinary foods.

â– digested fat

Wild mainly studies the body's fat digestion mechanism. Usually, fat begins to decompose after it reaches the small intestine. In other words, when people eat high-fat foods, the fat is basically digested when it reaches the end of the small intestine. At this time, the intestine sends a signal to the brain to request suppression of appetite.

Wild wraps the fat droplets in high-fat foods with plant proteins. Digestive enzymes take a long time to break down proteins before they finally reach fat droplets. When the fat droplet reaches the end of the small intestine, it has not yet been digested, and the intestine still sends a signal to the brain that it is already “full”. Even in the absence of digestion of the fat droplets, the intestinal tract still sends out this signal.

On the contrary, if the fat droplets are completely digested before reaching the end of the small intestine, the intestine will not send a similar signal. Wild said that this technology can be used for any food containing fat, and does not affect the taste of food.

Researchers at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom extracted sodium alginate from seaweed. Sodium alginate can reduce the amount of glucose decomposition of fat before it reaches the large intestine, thereby reducing fat absorption. When they investigated the tastes of dozens of people, they also found that the breads that the participants believed to have added to sodium alginate had good taste, and some even thought that it was better than regular bread.

â–  Future development

Many people believe that Verd’s appetite control method is an effective way to treat obesity.

Steve Bloom, professor of pharmacology at Imperial College, University of London, commented: “The ability to control the appetite effectively will be of great help to dieters. In theory, controlling appetite through improved foods can be done. For some other human endocrine mechanisms , such as the production of cholesterol, drug control has long been a routine treatment."

However, he pointed out that controlling appetite with food is faced with many challenges. "The human body has many mechanisms to prevent the brain from being deceived." Appetite control is not only accomplished by hormonal regulation. The brain also uses signals from nerve receptors to identify whether the stomach is saturated.

Some experts are not optimistic about the prospects for the development of "improved foods." Alice Lichtenstein, a nutritionist at the Tufts University in the United States, explained that there are many reasons for stimulating appetite, not just hunger. Some people choose food according to taste, price, childhood memory, and so on.

There are also some people who worry that the "improved foods" may not be managed after listing. “How do you control who owns it?” said Peter Fryer, a chemical engineer at the University of Birmingham who studied “improved food”. “What if the person has anorexia?”