Monounsaturated oils have heart healthy benefits, and researchers now find that this type of oil may help in appetite control. Researchers at Hotel Dieu in Paris studied 12 healthy men, average age 24, who ate specially-prepared meals once a week for four weeks at the hospital. For lunch, they were served a chopped steak, French bread, a piece of cheese, an apple and a side dish of either mashed potatoes or rice. The mashed potatoes and rice were either prepared with a monounsaturated oil mix (60 percent sunflower oil and 40 percent soybean) or polyunsaturated oil mix (70 percent sunflower and 30 percent rapeseed). Men who ate mashed potatoes prepared with the monounsaturated oil mix were less hungry four to eight hours after eating lunch than those who ate starches prepared with polyunsaturated oil. The effect was most pronounced, researchers say, among the men who ate the mashed potatoes containing monounsaturated oils. While eating fewer calories is something many Americans are struggling to do, the dietary modifications have not only cut out fat, but replaced them with foods high in sugar, carbohydrates and calories.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Experimental Biology 2000, March 2000 Conference
