High Fat, Low Carb +20g Whey = Reduced Satiety | Palatable Foods & Obesity | Food Addiction - Believes & Realities

After your workout, whey protein is fine. With a low carb + high fat breakfast, though, it may ruin the satiety inducing effects of the high fat + low CHO meal.

Today I am going to make the short news items actually short in order to be able to cover all the different studies investigating topics that range from the effects of TV watching and other distractions on your likelihood of snacking, the link between the amount of food kids consume when they are allowed to eat as much as they want at a buffet and their body fat levels, the differential effects of various macronutrients on appetite, satiety & co, the negative effects of believing in food addiction, the surprising insight that whey may be for low-carbers not and more.

I think this was a long enough preface. So, let's not waste anymore time, but rather dig into the papers I've found in the latest regular and special edition(s) [some are pre-release abstracts] of the scientific journal Appetite:

Read more short news at the SuppVersity

Exercise Research Uptake Nov '14 1/2

Exercise Research Uptake Nov '14 2/2

Weight Loss Supplements Exposed

Exercise Supplementation Quickie

Low Food Quality, Not High Sugar Drives Obesity

Read the Latest Ex. Science Update

• Distraction during eating increases later snacking and reduced meal memory (Higgs. 2015) -  It is not actually surprising, but still interesting. If you are distracted by talking or watching TV or whatever else while you're eating this will have direct effects on your ability to recall what you've eaten and your snack choices (i.e. snacking vs. non-snacking).
  

  

  Figure 1: Mean snack (buiscits) when subjects were either focused on the meal or distracted (Higgs. 2015).

  In addition, Higgs et al. (2015) were able to show that the effect of distraction is larger when motivation to engage with the distracter was greater, i.e. someone who's watching a captivating TV series you will be more likely to snack later in the day than someone who more or less only "listens" to the charts on MTV. What's noteworthy, though, is that a "food related" TV program, will actually reduce the effect.
  
  Needless to say that focusing your attention on the actual eating process and the food you eat will decreased later snacking.
• Intake at a single, palatable buffet test meal is associated with total body fat and regional fat distribution in children (Fearnbach. 2015) - Eventually the results of this study from the Pennsylvania State University just confirm what we already know. People and in this case kids who tent do overeat are more likely to be obese.
  

  

  Figure 2: The fatter the kids are the more palatable foods are consumed at the buffet (Fernback. 2015).

  The reason I still mention this study is thus not the fact that the buffet pirates are more likely to be obese, but rather the fact that the relationship between food intake and body fat is particularly significantly for palatable buffets and valid only for savory, but not sweet, foods.
• Differential effect of fat and carbohydrate composition meals on food hedonics, satiation and satiety - The results of this investigation go against the current trend toward low carb diets, after all, Finlayson et al. clearly found that

  "When consumed in controlled amounts, LFHC [low fat high carb] meals induce a greater satiety (SQ) compared to isoenergetic HFLC [high fat low carb] meals. HFLC meals do not dampen the subsequent appeal bias for HFLC foods compared to matched LFHC meals" (Finlayson. 2015).

  What I personally find extra-surprising is that the study was conducted on forty-five overweight and obese adults who were studied on 2 separate days in which they were given access to HFLC or LFHC meals. Usually, overweight and obese people are the ones who best respond to low carb diets.

You're having problems controlling your appetite? Try eating with ear-plugs! Study from the University of Surrey in the UK shows (): When young, normal-weight individuals eat a standardized meal (606 kcal, 37 g protein, 85 g carbohydrates, 12 g fat) wearing ear-plugs, this boosts their perceived hunger (p = 0.029) and perceived fullness (p = 0.032).

• Habitual high-fat consumers are not more susceptible to weight gain when exposed to increased portion sizes in a free-living setting (Dalton. 2005) - That's at least what the NIH worksite study suggests. In said study, two hundred thirty-three adults (67.7% women; age 42.6 ± 11.2; BMI 29.8 ± 6.4) were randomly allocated to one of four lunch size groups (400 kcal, 800 kcal, 1600 kcal, and no lunch control) for 6 months. Body weight and energy intake (assessed using 24 hr dietary recalls) were measured at baseline, and Months 1, 3 and 6. Of the 233 subjects, 75 were HF-C (40.2%E fat, SD: 3.0) and 74 were LF-C (26.6%E fat, SD: 3.2).
  
  

  

  Previous research from overfeeding studies yielded slightly different results with a minimal disadvantage for high fat intake | learn more

  Interestingly, there was no interaction between portion size exposure and fat intake according to habitual fat consumption. What the scientists did observe (and this may have skewed the results) was the fact that the subjects in the HF-C group had a higher BMI (M: 30.8, SD: 7.1) compared to LF-C (M: 28.1, SD: 5.5) and greater baseline total daily energy intake. It is nevertheless hard to debate that the weight change at months 1, 3 and 6 did not differ between HF-C and LF-C in response to portion size. Eventually it would thus appear as if the "habitual dietary energy density" was what actually determines ones obesity risk.
• Fiber-enriched (inulin) squash smoothie decreases ad-libitum food intake in subsequent meal (Slevin. 2015) - Now the fact that the BMI-adjusted (thus g/kg/m²) preload drink, which contained 0.67 g/kg/m² inulin, 0.67 g/kg/m² squash and 8.89 g/kg/m² water the 12 normal weight and 12 obese women consumed 30 min before going to a buffet for lunch did decrease the ad libitum intake (219.7 kcal, p = 0.008; 101.6 g, p = 0.032) and total food intake (187.9 kcal; p = 0.019; 102.3 g, p = 0.033) is not surprising. The fact that it did so only in the obese women, but not in the normal-weight subjects, on the other hand may be considered a surprise-
  

  

  Figure 3: The more different food items the subjects selected, the more they eat (exact numbers for the different food items were not mentioned in the abstract that is currently available | Slevin. 2015)

  Not surprising, but insightful was the revelation that (a) the subjects' food intake significantly increased with increasing items at lunch (242.7 g, 349.2 g, 431.1 g, p = 0.018; 554.1 kcal, 640.9 kcal, 747.4 kcal, p < 0.001) and that (b) the preload was most effective at reducing hunger (p = 0.005) and total food intake (296.3 kcal, p = 0.009) in the 5 item condition, i.e. if the subjects were told that they may chose only 5 items (overall, the scientists did 3 trials, a control trial, a pre-load trial and a pre-load trial in which the subjects were allowed to select only 5-items).
• Consumption of thylakoid-rich spinach extract reduces hunger, increases satiety and reduces cravings for palatable food in overweight women (Stenblom. 2015) - Thylakoids are contained in green-plant membranes like those of spinach (5g/100g spinach) and have been shown to reduce feelings of hunger as well as cravings for palatable food in human participants, during diet intervention and simultaneous weight loss in overweight women (Montelius. 2014M Stenblom. 2013 & 2014). What still had to be confirmed, though, is that these beneficial effects also affect the intake of such foods.
  
  

  

  Figure 4: Intake from snack buffet. The effect size is too low to trigger weightloss wonders (Stenblom. 2015).

  Stenblom's study in the course of which the thylakoids were served in a cold blueberry drink, mixed with 2.5 g rapeseed oil (Zeta, Di Luca & Di Luca AB, Stockholm, Sweden) and 92.5 g blueberry soup (Ekströms original, Procordia Food AB, Eslöv, Sweden), immediately before breakfast on treatment test days clearly shows that an effect can be observed with real foods, too, but if you take a look at the only really relevant parameter in Figure 4, i.e. the actual food intake on the breakfast buffet, the effect size is negligible.

If you believe in food addiction you will never lose weight! Ok, ok. That's not what a recent study from the Universities of Liverpool and Bristol (Hardman. 2015) shows, but it does confirm that if you are made believe that food addiction is real by bogus articles like the subjects in that study you are (a) more likely to self-diagnose yourself with "food addiction" and will (b) be more susceptible to binging on indulgent foods.

• Whey is not always appetite suppressing! Addition of whey protein to a fat-based breakfast has detrimental effects on satiety following subsequent feeding (Allerton. 2015) - You, as a SuppVersity reader know: Previous studies have shown that whey protein consumed either before or alongside a meal will make the latter more satiating. What you probably didn't know (I didn't but maybe suspected it) is the fact that this is only the case if the meal is not a low-carb meal.
  
  In their latest study, scientists from the Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne found that healthy males (age 24 ± 2 years, mass 79.7 ± 3.8 kg, BMI 24.5 ± 2.1 kg/m2) consume significantly more of a pasta-based lunch meal  (3427 kJ; 49%, 37%, 14% energy from carbohydrate, fat, protein)  that was served 180 minutes after a fat-based breakfast if the latter contained 20g of whey protein (FAT + WP) than after a "whey protein free" breakfast. In addition, the ...

  

  10+ Things You Probably Didn't Know Whey & Peptides That Form During its Digestion Can Do | more

  "[p]ostprandial ratings of perceived hunger, fullness, satisfaction and prospective consumption were similar after breakfast between trials (p > 0.05). Following lunch, levels of prospective consumption were higher under FAT+WP (time-averaged AUC; FAT+WP: 62 ± 7 vs FAT: 54 ± 6 mm, p = 0.024). Perceived satisfaction was significantly greater under FAT at 120 (FAT: 52 ± 5 vs FAT+WP: 38 ± 7 mm, p = 0.017) and 150 (FAT: 41 ± 5 vs FAT+WP: 30 ± 6 mm, p = 0.009) minutes post-lunch" (Allerton. 2015).

  Thus, it would appear as if people on a low-carb high fat diet, don't necessarily benefit to the same extend as people on a low(er) fat diet from adding whey protein to their meals. Or it may be even worse. As the scientists point out the "negative effects on responses to a subsequent meal were observed, with lower satisfaction and higher ratings of prospective consumption following prior ingestion of breakfast containing whey protein" - which would (emphasis on the conditional) mean nothing else than 'whey may do more harm than good for low carb high fat eaters who want to lose weight'... and yes, the effect may be mediated by the insulin spike that is higher for whey than for white bread (learn more)!

Latest Study on "Breakfast Skipping" Finds: Whether Skipping Breakfast Increases Insulin, Hunger and Blood Lipids Depends on One's Breakfast Habits (read it). The same may be the case for the cognitive effects and many other purported benefits of having, as well as the often heard of side effects of skipping breakfast.

What else do the latest Appetite articles have to offer? Well, there's the abstract to a soon-to-be-published article by Clayton et al. (2015) who investigated the effect of breakfast omission on subjective appetite, metabolism and satiety hormones and found that any effects (if they are even significant) are transient and do not extend beyond lunch. This would confirm what I've highlighted in several "breakfast omission" articles and reviews: The fact that you may be a breakfast skipper is not the reason you are fat and can't lose weight. If you decide you want to have breakfast and don't go low carb though, the preliminary data from Hofman et al. (2015) would indicate that a high carb + high energy is better for your cognitive performance than its high carb + low energy counterpart. Eventually, I do yet believe that even this depends on habituation. After all scientists found only recently that the ill metabolic effects of breakfast skipping are significant only in habitual breakfast eaters | Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Allerton, et al. "Addition of whey protein to a fat-based breakfast has detrimental effects on satiety following subsequent feeding." Appetite 91 (2015). 
• Clayton, et al. "Effect of breakfast omission on subjective appetite, metabolism, acylated ghrelin and active GLP-1." Appetite 91 (2015).
• Dalton, et al. "Habitual high-fat consumers are not more susceptible to weight gain when exposed to increased portion sizes in a free-living setting. NIH worksite study." Appetite 91 (2015). 
• Fearnbach, S. Nicole, et al. "Intake at a single, palatable buffet test meal is associated with total body fat and regional fat distribution in children." Appetite (2015).
• Finlayson, et al. "Differential effect of fat and carbohydrate composition meals on food hedonics, satiation and satiety." Appetite 91 (2015).
• Hardman, Charlotte A., et al. "“Food addiction is real”. The effects of exposure to this message on self-diagnosed food addiction and eating behaviour." Appetite 91 (2015): 179-184.
• Higgs, Suzanne. "Manipulations of attention during eating and their effects on later snack intake." Appetite (2015).
• Hofman, et al. "Effects of breakfast size on satiety, glucose, memory, and executive function." Appetite 91 (2015).
• Koidis, et al. "Is satiation altered by earplugs in an eating rate study." Appetite 91 (2015).
• Montelius, Caroline, et al. "Body weight loss, reduced urge for palatable food and increased release of GLP-1 through daily supplementation with green-plant membranes for three months in overweight women." Appetite 81 (2014): 295-304.
• Slevin, C. "The effects of food variety and a BMI adjusted fibre preload on appetite and food intake in normal weight and obese females." Appetite 91 (2015).
• Stenblom, Eva-Lena, et al. "Supplementation by thylakoids to a high carbohydrate meal decreases feelings of hunger, elevates CCK levels and prevents postprandial hypoglycaemia in overweight women." Appetite 68 (2013): 118-123.
• Stenblom, E. L., et al. "Decreased Urge for Palatable Food after a Two-month Dietary Intervention with Green-plant Membranes in Overweight Women." J Obes Weight Loss Ther 4.238 (2014): 2.
• Stenblom, Eva-Lena, et al. "Consumption of thylakoid-rich spinach extract reduces hunger, increases satiety and reduces cravings for palatable food in overweight women." Appetite 91 (2015): 209-219.