Shape Singapore – August 2019

Eat Right News

Certain body chemicals can keep you from overeating, new research

shows. All you have to do is kick them into action. Here’s how.

FEEL HAPPILY FULL

TEXT

PAM O’BRIEN

PHOTO

123RF.COM

STOP BEFORE

YOU POP

Eat enough to feel

perfectly satisfi ed,

not stu ed.

E

ating is the easy part. What’s not always simple is

knowing when to stop. But scientists have discovered

a physiological process that might be the key to

controlling your appetite, consuming fewer calories,

and feeling satisfi ed and energized. The main players:

your brain, a gut hormone called secretin that helps

your body digest food, and brown fat (a good fat in your body that

burns calories).

The researchers found that as you eat a meal, your gut and your

brain communicate with each other, and secretin has a surprising role in

the conversation. When there’s enough of the hormone in your system,

secretin stimulates your brown fat and motivates it into action. The

brown fat generates heat, “and our hypothesis is that this in turn leads

to a slight increase in the temperature of your brain, which activates

neurons that trigger satiety, so you feel full,” explains the study’s lead

author, Martin Klingenspor, the chair of molecular nutritional medicine at

the Technical University of Munich.

“Anything that makes brown fat more active can help control appetite,”

Martin says. Eating foods that prompt the release of secretin may be

one good way to start. While more research is needed to determine the

best secretin-boosting foods, other experts have discovered that certain

fatty acids, like oleic acid (the kind found in olive oil), can stimulate the

hormone. Drizzling some olive oil on your salad or dipping a piece of

whole-grain bread in it may be a tasty way to eat less and feel fully content.

SHAPE AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019 | EAT RIGHT | 73