Recent research has found that changing the droplet sizes of oils within an oil-in-water emulsion could help influence appetite and reduce food consumption.
Oil droplets have interesting properties when it comes to manipulating sensory properties. It had already been demonstrated that their size in emulsions affected sensory perception, especially hedonics. How oil droplet size might affect food intake remained to be explored given that finding means and ways to manage the growing problem of obesity in well-developed countries needs continuous support.
In the latest study, thirty-four subjects, all male and aged between 18 and 37, completed two test days, where they visited the laboratory to consume a fixed-portion breakfast, returning 3 hours later for a beverage which was the emulsion preload containing either 2 or 50 μm oil droplets. This was followed 20 min later with an ad libitum pasta lunch.
Those participants drinking the preload beverage that contained the 2 μm oil droplets rather than the 50 μm oil droplets ate significantly less of the ad libitum lunch with an average reduction of 12% (62.4 kcal). Despite the significant differences in intake, there were none in terms of sensory differences.
The researchers concluded that “the impact that an emulsion has on satiety can be enhanced without producing significantly perceivable differences in sensory properties. Therefore, by introducing a processing step which results in a smaller droplets, emulsion-based liquid food products can be produced that enhance satiety, allowing covert functional redesign.”
What causes the effect remains a mystery but it clearly deserves further research.
Lett, A.M., Norton, J.E., Yeomans, M.R. (2016) Emulsion oil droplet size significantly affects satiety: A pre-ingestive approach. Appetite 96 1st January pp. 18-24
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