The role of Gut bacteria supplements in reducing the craving for high-calorie foods.

Being overweight or obese is actually a serious medical problem as it can affect a person’s overall health. Obesity leads to severe health problems like diabetes and heart disease and may also have a severe impact on joints, breathing, sleep. Though there are many factors responsible for Obesity, Overeating is a prime factor responsible for this dangerous disease. First, you need to lower your food cravings to get rid of weight, which is almost impossible. People often get disturbed with the cravings when seen their favorite food and these desires are unable to control. To avoid overeating and reduce your inclination towards food, Scientists have found a new way to diminish your cravings.

Gut-Bacteria Supplement Which Reduces The Food Cravings:

A research has proved that consuming milkshakes with an additional supplement “inulin-propionate ester” could mitigate the desire for chocolates, pizza, and other foods which have high calories. Upon consumption of this supplement, it tends to increase the production of propionate in the gut after the fibrous compound inulin is digested. According to a previous research, “inulin” available in natural sources like fruits and vegetables such as artichokes, asparagus and bananas can reduce an individual’s appetite by slowing the digestion process and increasing fullness in the stomach. Now let us know how the gut bacteria “inulin-propionate ester” reduce your food cravings and the combination of propionate and inulin could be far more effective than inulin alone.

Research On Gut Bacteria About The Effect:

After an experiment done on  20 men who are physically fit, They were randomly selected to either consume a milkshake which contains inulin-propionate ester or the milkshake with inulin alone. After consumption, those men were asked to have a glance at pictures of low-calorie foods like salads and fish or pictures of high-calorie foods such as cake or pizza. As they continued to view the pictures, Their neural activity was monitored through fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). The results determined that the men who had consumed the milkshakes which have the combination supplement had drastically reduced activity in the neural reward centers termed as caudate and the nucleus accumbens. These are the areas in the brain that respond to the images of the food. In addition, Men who consumed inulin-propionate ester milkshakes have revealed that these high-calorie foods very less appealing when compared to the participants who drank the insulin milkshakes.

How Does It Work:

This fibrous supplement works by increasing the production of the propionate in the stomach and reduces the food cravings. Inulin reduces the appetite which slows the digestion process and increasing fullness in the gut. Recent studies have clearly proved that propionate also reduces appetite and craving for favorite food. Scientists determined exactly how the propionate reduces appetite and also wants to confirm whether inulin-propionate ester (the combination of inulin and propionate)  might be more effective than the single compound inulin which scales down the food consumption. The major challenge associated with this study is to know whether it also reduces the normal food intake. This is a missing piece of the jigsaw in the study, While the results prove that the supplement can decrease activity in brain areas associated with food reward at the same time as reducing the amount of food they eat. This was supported by concrete evidence as some people are more inclined to gain weight than others, consumption as they may have lower production of propionate.

Know The Limit For Consumption:

In contrast to the above statement, supplement decreases the brain activity when seen the desired foods and the consumption of gut bacteria in recommend limits will not impact the normal food intake. The combined amount of inulin-propionate ester (gut bacteria) used in this study was 10g, while the previous study show increase of propionate production by 2.5 times.  To generate the same response from inulin alone we would need an intake of around 60g a day.

Conclusion :

This study sheds new light about the supplement to reduce overeating and also reveals the importance of gut bacteria and health.  feeding our gut microbes with dietary fiber is important for healthy living. This study illustrates that signals produced by the gut microbiota are important for the regulation of appetite and food preferences.