I read an interesting article regarding a "hunger hormone" called ghrelin. Ghrelin can be effectively suppressed by eating a diet higher in protein and lower in carb. By supressing ghrelin, hunger can be controlled. There was a study done that explained that a high protein drink was most effective at suppressing ghrelin, while high carb drinks and high fat drinks were not as effective. Actually, carbs were shown to suppress hunger most efficiently, but only lasted for about 3 hours, and then there was a rebound effect. Protein sustained hunger for up to 6 hours.

Here is a quote from the article:

"The findings point to a possible biological reason that high-protein diets help some people shed pounds. Based on these ghrelin effects, a high-protein/low-carb regimen may help delay the inevitable "hunger rebound" that follows every meal, according to the researchers.

The results are not, however, an endorsement of high-protein diets, lead researcher Dr. Karen Foster-Schubert, of the University of Washington in Seattle, told Reuters Health."


The article doesn't give any specific information regarding how much protein it took to get the suppressive effect. But, it was an interesting article, and brought to mind some thoughts of mine. Actually sounds similar to what we are doing in the Zone. We add some carb, and that could help with initial hunger, and then we add some protein, which could help with long-term hunger suppression. The article does not seem to support the use of fat for hunger suppression, at all, explaining that fat was not effective at suppressing ghrelin. However, there may be another mechanism in play which explains why Sears advocates the use of fat for hunger suppression, which is not explained in this article.

I copied this link from an email from a recent sears.com newsletter. The article can probably be found by going to his website, as well.

http://ipost.com/rd/9z1z467jnclgmql...5dhhp5lh80