A new study out of the University of Calgary suggests that fibre supplements can control weight gain.
Researchers from the university’s Cumming School of Medicine and the Faculty of Kinesiology fed rats a fibre supplement while on a high fat and high sugar diet and the results showed a much lower weight gain than rats that did not eat the fibre.
The study was published in the April edition of the journal Obesity and revealed that rats with constant access to food high in fat and sugar gained about one third less weight than the control group when they were given supplemental oligofructose fibre.
Scientists say the effect was noticed regardless of the animals’ genetic predisposition to obesity and that rats prone to obesity and those that were leaner and more resistant showed similar results.
Rats have a very similar digestive mechanism to humans so they are an effective way to study how the fibre, inulin, impacts weight gain in humans.
Inulin can be found naturally in foods like onions, but only in very small amounts, so a supplement was needed for the study.
"The important thing is that it stops the slow creeping weight gain that we know adults typically experience over course of a year so the statistics would say that’s probably about one to two pounds. Up to a kilogram of weight every year, that most adults, your typical adult, will gain and so what these fibres can do is that they’ll stop that weight gain and for some individuals they’ll actually also experience weight loss. So it’s definitely a preventative thing,” said Raylene Reimer, researcher.
The researchers say this is not a magic bullet to prevent weight gain and that eating healthier and exercise are still the best ways to control weight gain.
Researchers at the University of Calgary have shed more light on how dietary fibre controls our weight.
(With files from Brad MacLeod)
