Feeling Full

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the temptation to over-eat is tremendous! (For those who are new to my blog and want to know more about turkey you can read last year's post here.) So I thought that the topic of satiety signals would be apropos. But first, how many of us are aware of the difference between hunger and appetite? Hunger is physiological, appetite is psychological. Many of us, probably me included, will continue to eat because of appetite, not hunger tomorrow. We will completely ignore our bodies and keep right on eating well past being full.

Satiety is the condition of being full, or at least of feeling full so that your know when to stop eating. In your body satiety is a set of physiological signals that come from your gastrointestinal tract to your brain; specifically the brain stem and hypothalamus by way of the vagus nerve. The hypothalamus is our body's regulator of food behavior - it tells us to keep eating or to stop eating. (We know that this occurs here because people who have injured their hypothalamus have difficulty regulating their eating behaviors.) But other things are occurring when we eat; hormones are produced (somewhere around 20-30, including insulin) which may also be telling the brain when you are full.

New research is suggesting that a naturally occurring family of fats derived from lecithin, called oleoylethanoamide or OEA, play a role in signaling satiety; OEA appears to "talk" to the vagus nerve inducing satiety and reducing food intake. OEA is a combination of oleic acid (omega-9 like is found in olive oil) and ethanolamine. Although studies are currently ongoing, and are being done on rats not people, some interesting findings are being reported. In addition to appetite suppression, OEA appears to encourage fatty acid catabolism and lower blood lipid levels.

Because many of the foods we eat at Thanksgiving are high in fat and sugar, and low in protein (well, excluding the turkey) and fiber we don't feel satiated for very long. Keep this in mind as you munch your way through the meal tomorrow and listen for your satiety signals!

Is That Natural?

Natural seems a simple enough word; the dictionary definition is simple: existing in or formed by nature. If only it were that simple when it comes to the food you buy. You see each governmental agency has its own definition, or lack of one and that can (and does) lead to quite a bit of confusion.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1988 defined natural as: nothing artificial or synthetic has been added to or included in a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food. Since then the industry has asked numerous times for clarification and/or redefinition of the term "natural", but alas to date the FDA has refused.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) uses a decision tree to determine the natural status of a food (well really just meat, poultry & eggs since those are under their jurisdiction). They ask the following questions:

1. Does the product contain an artificial flavor, coloring agent, chemical preservative, or any other synthetic or artificial ingredient? If the answer is yes, then the product cannot be labeled as natural.
2. Are the product and its ingredients minimally processed? If the answer is yes, then the product can be labeled as natural.

Seems like this is pretty straight forward - right? Well, no. Some of the problems here are with defining minimally processed. Does drying, roasting/cooking, lowering pH (adding an acid like lemon juice or vinegar), or pressure cooking cause a product to lose it ability to call itself natural? What about microbially fermented products like yogurt, cheese, beer or wine - are these natural? You get the point.

And if those weren't enough to cause confusion, the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau had decided they want a voice in this discussion too. They define natural as depending on:

1. The origin of the ingredients
2. How the term "natural" is presented in the context of a challenged advertisement
3. And the reasonable customer expectation as to the meaning of the term "natural"

Ouch! No wonder there is so much confusion about such a simple little word. There is a growing amount of pressure by consumers to have terms such as "natural" standardized and believe me, the industry is on board with that. Sometimes the simple things in life just aren't that simple.