A study by U.S researchers which will appear in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that protein does the best job at keeping the hunger hormone in check, while carbohydrates and fats deserve their current nasty reputation.
The study that offers insight into “how diets work” looked at the effectiveness of different nutrients at suppressing ghrelin, a hormone stimulates appetite that secreted by stomach. Suppression of ghrelin is one of the ways that people lose their appetite as they begin to eat and become sated.
Three different beverages give to 16 people, each varying levels of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. The blood samples taken before the first beverage, then every 20 minutes for six hours afterward, ghrelin levels measured in each sample.
Fats suppress ghrelin poorly. In terms of combination of the depth and duration of suppression, proteins were the best suppressor of ghrelin. High proteins are essentially common to almost all of the popular diets. Eating carbohydrates resulted in a strong ghrelin suppression at first, but the levels rebounded with vengeance, rising to an even higher level. Carbohydrates eventually made people even hunger than before they had eaten. The study may aid in future research on the effectiveness of different diets.
Reference: The Jakarta Post, Sunday, January 20, 2008
Tags: diets, popular science blog
