The most difficult when you want losing weight it is to regulate one’s appetite. Difficult to reduce the proportions, eat more light without having those famous hunger pangs between meals … British researchers may have just found the solution: grenade ! This fruit native to Asia would conceal unsuspected slimming virtues.
A better feeling of satiety
The study conducted by Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh involved 29 volunteers. Half of them took one tablet containing pomegranate skin, flesh and seed extract every day for three weeks. The other half of the participants took a placebo. After three weeks, each volunteer drank a glass of pomegranate juice before sitting down to enjoy a dish of pasta with tomato sauce. Before eating, and at 15-minute intervals for two hours, participants recorded their feelings of hunger and satisfaction in a questionnaire widely used in scientific studies to measure feelings and states of mind.
People who took pomegranate extracts reported feeling less hungry (- 12% compared to others), less desire to eat (- 21%), had a better feeling of fullness (+ 16%) and were overall more satisfied with their meal (+ 15%). They also ate an average of 22% less than others and found their food tastier.
An ally in the fight against obesity?
Scientists believe that regular consumption of pomegranate extract can reduce the feeling of hunger, while increasing the feeling full.
Dr Emad Al-Dujaili, who led the research, is delighted: “These results indicate that consumption of pomegranate extract may help reduce risk factors for overweight and obesity “.
British researchers are now planning to conduct a larger and more in-depth study to determine the reasons for this satiety effect. Their hypothesis is that it is the polyphenols contained in numbers in the pomegranate that would produce this sensation. The results of this study will be presented shortly at the International Congress of Nutrition Conference in Spain.
Good news for anyone looking to lose weight. But all the same a small investment to plan because we know the pomegranate is still an expensive food!
