By Randy Dotinga 
 
 HealthDay Reporter 
 
 THURSDAY, Dec. 11, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A newly developed food supplement appears to prevent weight gain and trim fat around the waist, researchers say. 
 
 However, the chemical compound doesn't seem to help people lose pounds, and the preliminary study is so small that the findings could be misleading. 
 
 Still, it did "lower appetite and prevented weight gain in overweight people," said study co-author Gary Frost, chair of nutrition and dietetics at Imperial College London. "This is the first time that a food ingredient has been shown to decrease weight gain." 
 
 The ingredient in question contains propionate, a fatty acid that's created when fiber ferments in the colon. 
 
 Propionate "does a number of things in the body," Frost said. "It is used for energy by the colon and liver. It can be used to make glucose in the liver." And, he said, it appears to affect how much people eat by boosting signals that suppress appetite. 
 
 Fiber is considered an aid to digestion and is thought to help people feel full. But that's not certain, Frost said. 
 
 "There are lots of short-term studies that show fiber suppresses appetite but no long-term studies. We think that this is because the amount of fiber needed to be consumed to affect appetite in the long term is two to three times the current recommendation," he explained. 
 
 In the new study, researchers developed a chemical compound that includes propionate and gave it in fruit juice to half of 20 volunteers. The others got only inulin, a plant fiber. 
 
 The volunteers then got to eat as much as they wanted from a buffet. Those who'd consumed the propionate ate 14 percent less on average than others, the researchers said. 
 
 Then the researchers followed 49 overweight adults, ages 40 to 65, as they received either a propionate supplement or inulin alone and completed a six-month study. 
 
 Of the 25 who took the supplement, just one gained more than 3 percent of body weight, compared to six of the 24 who took inulin. Those who took the supplement also had less fat around their waists. 
 
 What's going on? Frost said propionate might affect signals that suppress appetite, "but we are not sure which ones." It may also affect the metabolism of fat cells, he said. 
 
 According to Frost, there were no major side effects from taking the supplement. 
 
 The study was funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. 
 
 Rob Knight, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Colorado, said the supplement had a "relatively small effect" in a small number of people. And it didn't seem to lead to weight loss, even when people took in fewer calories, added Knight, who wasn't involved in the study. 
 
 It's possible, he said, that the supplement "actually makes the gut bacteria more efficient at extracting nutrients from the diet." This would be undesirable because that would lead to more weight, he noted. 
 
 Another specialist in gut bacteria, professor Harry Flint of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, praised the study as "carefully conducted and convincing, particularly since the effects are demonstrated in human volunteers." However, he cautioned against seeing the supplement as a "magic pill." 
 
 There's no way to buy this supplement now, but Frost said researchers are working with a food company to develop a product. 
 
 The study was published Dec. 10 in the journal Gut. 
 
 In another study, this one published recently in the journal Heart, researchers found that people with midriff bulge have an increased risk of cardiac arrest -- a sudden malfunction of the heart's electrical system. This is often fatal. ||||| Image copyright Thinkstock 
 
 Scientists have created a chemical that can be added to food to make people feel full. 
 
 Initial tests showed it helped people to eat less and slow weight gain. 
 
 It harnessed the power of a proprionate, which naturally makes us feel full when it is produced by breaking down fibre in the gut. 
 
 Writing in the journal Gut, the UK researchers said their chemical would have to be eaten regularly to have an effect. 
 
 The ingredient is a foul-tasting soluble powder, but the team, from Imperial College London and the University of Glasgow, are trying to incorporate it into bread and fruit smoothies. 
 
 Colon 
 
 The tricky part of the research was finding a way to deliver the proprionate into the colon, where it triggers the release of hormones that control appetite. 
 
 Adding it on its own to food would not work because it would be absorbed by the intestine too early. 
 
 So the team found a way to bind it to a natural carbohydrate found in plants, called inulin. 
 
 Once bound, the proprionate can safely make its way through the digestive system before being freed from the inulin by bacteria in the colon. 
 
 Image copyright Thinkstock 
 
 In initial tests, 20 volunteers were either given inulin on its own or the new ingredient, known as IPE, and then allowed to eat as much as they liked from a buffet. 
 
 Those who had been given IPE ate about 14% less food. 
 
 In the next part of the study, 49 overweight volunteers were either given IPE or inulin in powder form and asked to add 10g (about a spoonful) to their food every day. 
 
 After 24 weeks, six of the 24 volunteers given inulin had gained more than 3% of their body weight while only one of the 25 given IPE had done so. 
 
 Study leader Prof Gary Frost, from Imperial College London, said: "We know that adults gain between 0.3kg and 0.8kg [1lb 12oz] a year on average, and there's a real need for new strategies that can prevent this. 
 
 "Molecules like propionate stimulate the release of gut hormones that control appetite, but you need to eat huge amounts of fibre to achieve a strong effect." 
 
 Dr Douglas Morrison, from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre at the University of Glasgow, said the experiments had shown that propionate may play an important role in weight management. 
 
 Prof David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, said: "If they have brought this about without affecting taste or the bowels, then I would welcome it." ||||| Scientists in the UK have developed a kind of super-fiber that may one day be added to breads, juices, and a variety of packaged foods to make people feel fuller from fewer calories. In two studies, the results of which were just published, volunteer subjects who incorporated this ingredient into their diets gained less weight than subjects in a control group. 
 
 Regular dietary fiber already is added to many packaged foods, often in the form of inulin, which is extracted from chicory root. Increased intake of dietary fiber (inulin or otherwise) has long been linked to reduced appetite and weight control. 
 
 When a person ingests inulin, the inulin is fermented by gut microbes to produce propionate, which in turn stimulates the release of hormones that act on the brain to reduce hunger. 
 
 Researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Glasgow created a new ingredient called inulin-propionate ester (IPE), basically hitching propionate to inulin, to see if sending fiber to the gut with added propionate would have an effect similar to delivering a significantly higher dose of fiber. 
 
 According to Gary Frost, who led the human trials at Imperial College London, “the amount of propionate this allows us to put into the colon is equivalent to [what one would get from] 100 grams of dietary fiber.” 
 
 Considering that the average American consumes only 15 grams per day, the effect of 100 grams sounds like a lot. But Frost says it’s safe, noting that people in other parts of the world—for example, in rural African communities—habitually eat up to 100 grams per day. So did our paleolithic ancestors, for whatever that’s worth. 
 
 Frost is currently working on another trial feeding subjects inulin-propionate ester in bread, juice, and fruit smoothies, but it “could go in many other foods,” he says, cautiously optimistic that, barring unforeseen difficulties clearing regulatory hurdles, food companies could be using this ingredient in as little as two years.
– Scientists say they've concocted a chemical that can be added to food to make people feel full and thus eat less, reports the BBC. In two small but promising studies, researchers found that people who consumed food with the powder—called inulin-propionate ester, or IPE—gained less weight than their counterparts who went IPE-free, reports Quartz. If all goes well in larger studies, the scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Glasgow say that IPE could someday be added into bread, smoothies, and all manner of foods. "This is the first time that a food ingredient has been shown to decrease weight gain," says one of the lead researchers, as quoted in HealthDay News. The BBC explains that researchers figured out a way to make sure that IPE, once ingested, goes to the colon instead of being absorbed by the intestine. Once there, it seems to trigger appetite-suppressing hormones. In one of the studies, volunteers ate 14% less food from a buffet if it contained IPE. Scientists say IPE is essentially a tweak of a naturally occurring process and is therefore safe. (Another way to control your weight? Pay attention to the clock.)