Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Liquid Lunch May Be A Healthy Way to Lose Weight!

Finding a way to prevent from weight gain is never an easy task. Being common among people, overeating will eventually cause people to become overweight or even obese. These overweight or obese persons will be at a high risk of developing certain types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and so on and so forth.

Recently, scientists have suggested that people could bulk up the volume of food with certain gases or water so that they would feel fuller than otherwise. This will help reduce the amount of food they eat afterwards.

In May 2008, scientists from Unilever's research laboratories presented their finding at the European Congress on Obesity in Geneva that the gas-filled meal actually reduced appetite more than the standard one. In the study, they actually tested on 24 people a full milkshake-like meal, and a half-sized version bulked up with gas similar to that used in aerosol whipped cream.

The researchers are surprised to find out that satiety (feeling full) was maintained for 1 - 2 hours or even longer. It is known that there is always a problem with satiety, which is often lost after 15 minutes or so. Therefore, what they found in the study was a pleasant surprise.

In reality, many people who are trying to lose weight do find the maintenance of the weight-loss regime very difficult. Therefore, finding the types of food that could keep a person feeling full will help people eat less.

Nevertheless, not all gases would work. For instance, carbon dioxide, such as those found in carbonated drinks, does not do the job. The study found that only gases that can be stabilized in the food so it does not leave the body before it reaches the stomach.

The scientists admitted that they have yet to find out the answers on why such gas-filled liquid meals work or whether the same effect could be found on solid food. As such, they would still require to do further studies so that more evidence could be gathered.

1 comment:

  1. If we want to lose weight quickly, we have to do it with the healthy way!! Because what we want is not only to lose weight, but also keep it off, right?

    Ben Tien
    Losing Weight

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