How Olive Oil Usage Helps Weight Maintenance

Is there any connection between Olive Oil Usage and Weight Maintenance? The answer is yes. A new study revealed that olive oil and some healthy unsaturated fats contain ‘oleic acid’ a specific kind of fatty acid which gets converted into oleoylethanolamide (OEA) in the intestine. This OEA works to indicate to your body that it is not hungry yet and thus helps increasing the period between two meals. The study revels for the first time the conversion of any food content to a hormone, as per the researchers involved. The study was published in October edition of ‘Cell Metabolism’ a publication of Cell Press.

The study’s observations can prove very helpful in establishing a diet plan consisting of precise amounts of fat and protein for satiating hunger optimally. Also the drug development especially by inducing OEA or blocking its creation for containing or enhancing people’s appetite may hugely benefit from the findings.

The researchers believe that in present days when the usage of processed food filled with saturated fats is on the rise, the study would provide a new angle to look at the negatives of such foods to the dieters, since saturated fats are usually lacking in oleic acid. The researcher Daniele Piomelli of the University of California, Irvine commented, "Eating is one of the most important things animals do." He added "This is just one of many things that control it. That said, a system like this could be forced to inactivation by inappropriate feeding."  Piomelli said that while such diets may lead people to eat at frequent intervals, it would be interesting to see if these diets defect the mechanism of people who overeat.

The study reveled that the release of the OEA in the small intestine goes up when it is fed with fats rather then with protein or carbohydrate. The study also establishes OEA as the main physiological signal that controls the hunger period. As per the researchers comments "In conclusion, our studies identify OEA as a key physiological signal that specifically links dietary fat ingestion to across-meal satiety. Nutritional and pharmacological strategies aimed at magnifying this lipid-sensing mechanism, such as inhibitors of OEA degradation, might be useful in the treatment of obesity and other eating disorders."

Tagged as: oleic acid, olive oil, Olive Oil Usage and Weight Maintenance