The weight-loss category often gets a bad rep, with numerous fines, lawsuits and recalls over marketing and quality-control issues. However, there is a ton of good news on weight management nutritional ingredients, especially in the area of proven benefits to various factors and parameters of weight loss, as well as related health issues, including blood sugar health. Research results continue to deliver positive news on the value of such ingredients on fat burning, appetite control, carbohydrate management, satiety and other areas of weight and obesity.
Achieving and/or maintaining a healthy weight is the new Holy Grail, so the desire for some adjunctive assistance in the usual quest to lower caloric intake (eat less), increase caloric burn (exercise), and improve the overall diet is unlikely to wane. The International Food Information Council (IFIC) stated the majority of Americans report they are concerned about their weight, and are trying to either lose pounds or stay the same weight. However, they also noted taste and convenience still trump healthfulness in food selection, and many Americans are not savvy when it comes to the science of calorie balance and management.
In fact, despite all the attention obesity and related health problems have garnered, and all the diets undertaken, Americans appear to have yet to stem the growth of its weight problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vital Signs report, obesity rates in numerous states rose in the past decade. The feds had set a goal to bring obesity rates down to 15 percent in 2010, but rates in nine states have actually risen to more than 30 percent; only three states had rates above this level in 2007, and not one state had a rate higher than 30 percent in 2000.
The 2010 disappointment was no huge surprise after CDC released its 2009 National Health Interview Survey, which showed U.S. obesity and diabetes rates are at a 10-year all-time high. The annual prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults aged 20 years and over has gradually increased over time from 19.4 percent in 1997 to 28.0 percent in 2009; the 40 to 59 year old age bracket had the highest obesity rate.
Accumulating some additional weight in middle age and beyond is nothing new, but the alarm has been amplified by the now-infamous swelling obesity rates among children. Market research firm Datamonitor has found two of every five children aged 5 to 13 (40.7 percent) are obese or overweight, a number expected to rise significantly, to 43.4 percent, over the next few years. Increased sedentary lifestyles, high consumption of indulgent junk foods and lack of a consistent healthy diet are all contributors, according to the firm.
Whether due to not eating a beneficial diet or to a desire to get a little leg up on the battle of the bulge, people are turning to dietary supplements for weight management help. Frost & Sullivan put 2008 weight management ingredient market revenues at $7.5 million and estimated the growth over the next few years will place revenues at about $13.9 million in 2015. In its report, “Opportunities in Global Weight Management Ingredients,” the firm focused on several key weight management areas, including satiety ingredients, appetite suppressants and fat burners (thermogenic ingredients).
Satiety, the feeling of fullness after eating, is regulated by hormones. Ideally, levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, made in the stomach, rise before eating and fall after eating. The ghrelin travels to receptors in the hypothalamus are of the brain, where it links messages of satisfaction and pleasure to food management. Sleep can deplete the levels and effectiveness of ghrelin.
Several peptides help this hormonal hunger system work well. Cholecystokinin (CCK) helps the digestion of fats and protein in the small intestine, and binds to CCK receptors in the central nervous system (CNS), where it influences anxiety and nausea, as well as satiety and hunger. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY) provide signaling support in promoting fullness in both the brain and stomach; they also help slow the movement of food in the gut to ensure maximum digestion of nutrients and a deceased appetite.
While feeling full can address overeating and limit excess calories, appetite is another key area, as suppressing the desire to eat can keep a person from being in the position to overeat in the first place, in addition to curtailing the frequency and quantity of feeding. Appetite and satiety are closely related and share hormone regulators, such as PYY.
