Posted on 09/05/2006 12:57:57 PM PDT by Mount Athos
Eating a high-protein diet can boost the release of a hunger-suppressing hormone, according to new study on mice. The research suggests that a diet rich in protein may be a good way to lose weight and keep it off.
Mice fed a protein-heavy diet produced higher levels of an appetite-regulating protein called peptide YY (PYY), which has been linked to reduced appetite in human studies. What's more, the high-protein mice put on less fat than mice on a low-protein regime.
The discovery boosts the theory that eating more protein might help to reduce appetite and lead to sustained weight loss, says Rachel Batterham of University College London, who led the research, published in the journal Cell Metabolism1. "All the evidence suggests that it will be beneficial," she says.
The discovery may also shed light on how the notorious Atkins diet, which ditches carbohydrates in favour of protein and saturated fats, might work. Studies have shown that people on this diet can loose weight, though it is unclear why. Batterham thinks she may have the answer: "People on the Atkins diet don't feel as hungry — that's how it works."
But, she cautions, that doesn't mean the Atkins diet is a good idea: "No medical person is going to tell you to have all that saturated fat in your diet and no carbohydrates." In its early stages, the regime causes a condition called ketosis, in which the liver, deprived of glycogen from carbohydrates, switches to its starvation mode and begins to metabolize fatty compounds. "The problem is that it makes you feel terrible," Batterham says.
She now plans to organize a long-term study of the effects of a high-protein diet in humans, which might feature foods such as lean meat, soy, tofu and egg.
Batterham undertook this study in part to pin down the link between PYY and appetite. Her team first showed that the hormone reduces appetite in humans in a Nature paper2 in 2002, but other researchers said they could not replicate the effect. So her team turned to mice to investigate it in more depth.
In the new study, as well as showing that mice fed lots of protein put on less weight, Batterham and her colleagues also genetically engineered mice to lack functioning PYY. These mice ate more and became fatter, even on a high-protein regime. When these mice were dosed with replacement PYY, they stopped gorging. This proves, says Batterham, that a lack of PYY is directly linked to overeating.
That might explain why people are growing ever more obese. Since the agricultural revolution, the amount of protein in the average diet has been declining, in favour of carbohydrates from plant crops such as rice and maize. The typical Western diet contains only 16% protein, whereas a prehistoric hunter-gatherer would have consumed twice as much, Batterham claims.
High-protein eating habits such as the 'caveman diet', which can contain up to 35% protein, might therefore be based on some sound principles, Batterham suggests. The PYY system, she points out, has been around for millions of years, and is found in animals ranging from humans right through to primitive fish called lampreys.
Batterham stresses that such diets will still need to be investigated to see if they carry risks of high cholesterol, kidney damage or other problems. "Prehistoric hunter-gatherers did not routinely live to be 80 years old," she points out.
I don't know.
This is the list of stuff I avoid:
Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, unfermented soy products, msg, canola oil (anything that overly processed can't be healthy), most breads and rice, potatoes.
>>"No medical person is going to tell you to have all that saturated fat in your diet and no carbohydrates." <<
This old tired line is such bunk.
I eat carbs all the time on Atkins. Good carbs. Veggies.
I can get low carb tortillas and have great wrap sandwiches!
As for the fat, I don't eat beef or pork. Lots and LOTS of chicken and fish. They are protein too.
I haven't lost tons of weight but I haven't gained either. Being an ex-anorexic, this is a huge plus for me.
Carbs feed a kind of insulin yo-yo cycle. Pretty soon, unless your blood sugar is somewhere in the stratosphere, you feel hungry.
I eat some carbs, but my diet is more meat-fresh vegetable oriented. It shifts as the weather turns cooler. Soon I will start cooking more soups, stews, and pastas.
sugar isn't naturally white. There goes her theory.
40...more than two years ago. Still gone!
I try to avoid artificial sweeteners until they can come up with something that doesn't metabolize into weird stuff. I never believed the horror stories about aspartame (not the same as Splenda). A few years ago, I started using a lot of in on cereal and in drinks. After a few weeks, my fingers and toes started to tingle and go numb. Scared the crap out of me. I thought I had MS or something. I stopped using it. Symptoms went away in a week or so. A few months later, I thought I'd try an experiment and start using it again. Symptoms came back. Bye-bye aspartame.
Neither is being a complete lardass .... so drink a lot of water to go with the diet.
Child abuse? Crack cocaine? Voting Dimocrat?
processed white I suppose. Wheat isn't white either but white bread is. Rice isn't white until the hull is removed. Avoid white processed stuff. Eat but don't be a pig.
It helps keep my blood sugar from crashing.
1. Drives up HDL (good cholesterol)
2. Drives down triglycerides
Man, the stuff was MADE for the USA...!
Actually if people would *read the books* and follow the plans as written the high protein diet is healthy. It's all the tweaking people do to speed up the weight loss that screws things up. People aren't supposed to gorge on fatty meats just eat enough to satisfy hunger. As time goes on they are supposed to add in the healthy whole carbs like veggies, fruit, nuts, beans, whole grains until they stop losing weight and then adjust down to where to where they start losing again. It's really a whole foods diet.
soy sauce....
yummy.
Not.
http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijto/vol2n1/soy.xml
appetite as you deal with the pain fromt he Kidney stone you get with it. Also isn't good for your kidneys.
----
Source?
Oh, BROTHER. I've never been able to figure out how, all of a sudden, the historical, traditional diet that kept humans healthy for thousands of generations suddenly got so toxic. Ah, well. I think I'll go grill myself a big, fat rib steak...
Shrimp are good too.
Dip em in melted butter.
On Atkins, carbs are only severely restricted (20 carbs a day) initially as a way to detox and rid yourself from the cravings bad carbs can cause, generally that is 2 weeks, but some people decide to do it longer than 2 weeks. Carbs are gradually increased as you do this way of eating so that eventually you know how many you can have in order to maintain your weight loss. They never mention that when trashing this diet. It's not at all just fried eggs, bacon, butter and cheese. I eat a much healthier diet on Atkins than I've ever eaten in my life of fresh vegetables, fruits and lean meat, fish and chicken. If I'm hungry, I eat. More importantly, I can stick to it. I've maintained the weight loss for a year, I've never felt better and my cholesterol numbers are great. And, I have the full support of my doctor who understands how this way of eating really works.
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