Author: Leticia Celentano
Time for reading: ~1
minutes
Last Updated:
August 08, 2022
Consumption of products that contain too little protein stimulates us to feel hungry and resort to unhealthy foods.
Consumption of products that contain too little protein stimulates us to feel eternally hungry and to resort to unhealthy foods, according to an international study.
Eating enough meat, fish, eggs and nuts can help you lose a pound a month, experts say.
It has been found that the diet of people who eat more includes only 10% protein. Gourmets consume 260 calories more per day than people with a total protein intake of 15%.
Not only do these people consume more food, but 70% of the extra calories are ingested between main meals , not during meals.
Increasing consumption of proteins to 25% - as recommended in the Atkins diet - does not prove helpful to stop excessive eating, ascertain researchers from Cambridge University and the University of Sydney.
The study included 22 volunteers, aged between 18 and 51 years, with normal weight.
Participants consume mainly muffins for breakfast, fish with salad for lunch, beef, pie or spaghetti with vegetables and dessert for dinner. Fat consumption remains constant - 30% of the total calories in a meal, but the amount of carbohydrates is changed - 45-50 or 60% per meal.
Volunteers do the same activities and exercises - one hour walk a day to avoid resorting to food out of boredom or stress .
People who consume 10% protein a day consume an average of an additional 1,036 calories over a four-day period, compared to those who consume 15% protein.
It turns out that volunteers who take in more protein experience less hunger 2 hours after the end of a meal than those who take in 10% protein.
The results show that people have a particularly strong appetite for protein, and when their ratio in the diet is low, this appetite can stimulate excessive energy intake, says lead author Alison Grosby of the University of Sydney.
For weight loss, nutritionists recommend that the diet include 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbohydrates and the other half - vegetables .
The study was published in the journal PLoS One .