One of the chief reasons people can’t stick to diets is because hunger often goes hand-in-hand with cutting calories. But new research shows that supplementing a low-calorie diet with a unique, revolutionary type of fiber can make you feel full, especially during key diet-downfall times in the afternoon and evening.
A Canadian study published in December 2011 by Nutrition & Diabetes found that the dietary fiber PolyGlycopleX (PGX) suppressed hunger for as long as 4.5 hours in women on a 1,000-calorie-a-day diet. PGX is the most viscous and soluble fiber available, meaning that the health benefits linked to soluble dietary fibers— including promoting satiety and stabilizing blood sugar levels—are significantly magnified with PGX. Research shows that PGX raises levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone PYY while reducing levels of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin.
In the Canadian study, 45 women, ages 20 to 50 with body mass indexes between 25 and 35, ate 1,000 calories a day for three days, supplemented with either 5 grams of PGX or a placebo before breakfast, lunch and dinner. On the third day, the PGX group had between 6.3 and 10.3 percent less hunger, appetite, desire to eat and prospective consumption than the placebo group. Specifically, the women who took PGX reported less hunger for 2.5 to 4.5 hours after lunch, and 2.5 hours after dinner.
Both groups lost about the same amount of weight: 3.1 pounds for the placebo group, and 2.9 pounds for the PGX group.
“This study indicates that the supplementation of highly viscous PGX to meals could be a useful weight-management aid during a low-calorie diet to help lessen feelings of hunger and to moderate food portions,” the researchers concluded.
Other detailed clinical studies published in major medical journals and presented at worldwide diabetes conferences have shown that PGX:
- Stabilizes blood sugar in the overweight and obese
- Reduces appetite and promotes effective weight loss, even in the morbidly obese
- Reduces after-meal blood-glucose levels when added to or taken with foods
- Reduces the glycemic index of any food or beverage
- Increases insulin sensitivity and decreases blood insulin
- Improves diabetes control and dramatically reduces diabetics’ need for medications or insulin
- Lowers blood cholesterol and triglycerides
