Mental Health

"Anti-Hunger" Additive for Foods Proves Effective

By S.C. Stringfellow | Update Date: Aug 22, 2012 10:00 AM EDT

One of the hardest aspects of dieting is eating less (and tasteless foods, no less) and tricking yourself into believing your full: The fact is while your brain is doing all the work, your body is having none of it. Well, a miracle solution is on the way. 

Promising results were reported from a proof-of-concept clinical trial of an "anti-hunger" ingredient for yogurt, fruit shakes, smoothies and other foods that wouldessentially make people feel full longer and ease the craving to eat.

What's the secret ingredient you ask?

Methyl Cellulose (Yeah, sounds toxic) is a food additive that has been in use for more than 50 years and is a white powder that dissolves in cold water that forms a thick gelatin-like solution after heating. The additive provides pleasant texture and holds together the ingredients in hundreds of food products like baked goods, sweet and savory snacks and ready meals.

Because of its thickness, Methyl Cellulose has the capacity to expand in the stomach and satiate that annoying craving for more.

"This ingredient would make people feel full after eating smaller amounts of food," says Carsten Huettermann, Ph.D.,

"With that sense of fullness and hunger-satisfaction, they would not crave more food. In our first study, we saw that fewer calories were consumed at the following meal after eating our new product. Our next step now is to investigate in further studies the mechanism of action and whether this may have an impact on weight management."

After creating a slightly modified version of the substance, called SATISFIT-LTG, scientists tested the ingredient on volunteers. After consuming the product, volunteers felt completely full and even experienced a 13 percent decrease in caloric intake. With just a few more tests and a patented clearance from the FDA, this ingredient will be on the menu at your local juice bar.

The findings were reported in the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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