By Andrea Pelin,
Project Weight Loss Editor in Chief
March 04, 2008The most popular diets that promote weight loss are trying to change the proportion of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. However, the effectiveness of these diets has been questioned and a recent study may shed light on the efficiency of the mechanism of these diets.
The researchers focused on the capacity of different nutrients to suppress appetite. The levels of ghrelin, a substance secreted by the stomach that also acts as an appetite-stimulating hormone, are a good indicator of how saturating a nutrient really is. People register an increase of the ghrelin levels before meals and a prompt decrease afterward.
The participants to the study had three beverages with different compositions of carbohydrates, proteins, and fat. Before the first beverage and every twenty minutes for the next six hours the subjects were taken blood samples in order to measure the ghrelin levels.
The study`s results show that the levels of ghrelin remain relatively high after the consumption of fats, according to Dr. Karen Foster-Schubert at the University of
Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. The greatest suppression of ghrelin appeared after protein consumption and lasted for a long period too. The researchers were surprised to notice that carbohydrates consumption also resulted in significant ghrelin suppression but the ghrelin levels soon rebounded.
The study`s findings are important because they may facilitate the understanding of the interaction between certain nutrients and the appetite-stimulating hormone, ghrelin. Future research of the effectiveness of different methods of dieting will probably concentrate on the same issue and this may lead to the development of rational and efficient weight loss programs, said Foster-Schubert.
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