Oligosaccharides decrease obesity

Published: 10-Dec-2015

At a dose of 12g of fermentable soluble fibre, obese individuals not only reduced appetite and lowered food intake, they also reduced two key inflammatory markers


It’s now clear that obesity and chronic low-grade inflammation go hand in hand. It’s the inflammation that puts obese individuals at increased risk of developing cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

In a 2015 study featured in the Journal of Nutrition, the ability of fermentable soluble fibres extracted from legumes to reduce appetite, food intake and inflammation in overweight individuals was studied — truly a health-promoting trifecta!

In two single-centre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trials, 88 overweight adults (50% male and 50% female) age 18 to 60 drank black tea twice daily to which was added 6g of fermentable soluble fibres (alpha-galacto-oligosaccharides) extracted from legumes or a control substance (for a total of 12g daily).

Appetite scores, food intake and inflammatory markers (lipopolysaccharide, or LPS and c-reactive protein or CRP) were measured. At the end of the 14 days, the fermentable soluble fibre group experienced significant reductions in appetite and food intake compared with the control group. There was also a noticeable reduction in both of the inflammatory markers in the group consuming the fermentable soluble fibre compared with the control group.

But did the participants lose weight? In fact, the fermentable soluble fibre group had small reductions in body weight, body mass index, waste-to-hip ratio, and body fat percentage compared with the control group. Because it was such a short-term study, the researchers didn’t have high expectations regarding significant weight loss, they were more interested in the other outcomes measures.

At a dose of 12g of fermentable soluble fibre, obese individuals not only reduced appetite and lowered food intake, they also reduced two key inflammatory markers that are associated with metabolic syndrome and other chronic illnesses. It would be interesting to see if fermentable soluble fibre continues to impact these outcomes measures during a longer period of time.

You may also like