Stay slim by eating desserts first before your main meal

desserts
Researchers at the Imperial College London in a recent study found that eating desserts first, before your main meal, may be the secret to staying slim.

Glucokinase, a brain protein, keeps track of how much glucose is eaten. If one’s intake is too low, the brain will tell the body to find more starchy and sugary food.

Researchers suggest that if people dig into glucose-rich foods at the beginning of the meal, their bran will quickly determine that enough glucose has been consumed, allowing for inbuilt systems that count calories to kick-in – preventing one from overeating.

In contrast, if you start with the main meal and save the sugary foods towards the end, it will take a much longer for the brain to register that you do infact have enough glucose.

Interestingly, researchers found that those with a sweet tooth naturally produce more glucokinase than others.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, led by Dr James Gardiner, shares that since our brains rely heavily on glucose for energy, humans will have a deep-rooted preference for glucose-rich foods.

“People are likely to have different levels of this enzyme, so different things will work for different people. For some people, eating more starchy foods at the start of a meal might be a way to feel full more quickly by targeting this system, meaning they eat less overall,” Gardiner explains to Imperial College London News.

 

JOURNAL SOURCE

Syed Hussain et al. ‘Glucokinase activity in the arcuate nucleus regulates glucose intake.’ Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2014. doi:10.1172/JCI77172

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