Can You Reduce Appetite By Eating Fat?

There's new evidence that adding unsaturated fats to meals can help reduce appetite. Could this be the answer to more effective weight loss?

Do you find yourself feeling hungry throughout the day despite eating regular meals? This is a problem that commonly occurs in people who adopt restrictive weight loss diets. As it turns out, increased hunger with a weight loss diet may arise not only from decreased calorie consumption but also from a decreased intake of fat. Can increasing fat consumption with meals help to reduce appetite and indirectly promote weight loss?

The idea that a higher fat intake might help to reduce appetite and promote weight loss seems to go against conventional thinking suggesting that fat intake should be restricted to lose body fat. A study carried out by pharmacologists at University of California at Irvine pharmacologists suggests that increasing the intake of unsaturated fats may help to reduce appetite and send the signal to the body that enough food has been consumed, thereby promoting fullness and satiety.

According to the pharmacologists at UNC at Irvine, when unsaturated fats reach the intestines a compound known as oleoylethanolamide is produced by the small intestinal cells. Release of this compound signals the brain that enough food has been eaten which, in turn, reduces appetite as well as the desire to eat. Previously, this same oleoylethanolamide compound has been shown to reduce appetite and stimulate weight loss. The University of California at Irvine researchers hope to be able to use this knowledge to create diet medications that would help to reduce appetite safely and naturally. Many previous diet medications have been associated with side effects that limit their usefulness and effectiveness.

Unsaturated fats should be differentiated from less healthy saturated fats which are known to increase the risk of heart disease. Unsaturated fats include both monounsaturated fats found in nuts and olive oil as well as polyunsaturated fats in certain types of oil such as soybean and cottonseed oils. Unsaturated fats have not been shown to increase the risk of heart disease and may actually reduce levels of LDL, the bad cholesterol.

Despite this study, it wouldn't be wise to overload your diet with unsaturated fats in an attempt to reduce appetite. But, if you're depriving yourself completely of fats in order to lose weight, you may be doing yourself a disservice and actually stalling your weight loss efforts. Try adding small amounts of healthy, monounsaturated fats to each meal to help reduce appetite and promote a feeling of fullness. Chances are you'll take in fewer calories later in the day because you'll feel more satisfied. A good choice of monounsaturated fat is olive oil. Add a teaspoon to a salad in place of salad dressing or sprinkle a small amount on vegetables. This is a simple way to reduce appetite and stop hunger after a meal. Be careful not to add too much olive oil to food if you're trying to control weight as it's still high in calories.

Hopefully, future studies will reveal new approaches to reducing appetite naturally and provide clearer guidelines as to how much unsaturated fat is optimal for controlling hunger.