Many dieters avoid bread due to its high carbohydrate and therefore sugar content.
But now researchers claim to have created a bread that could theoretically help people lose weight by making the body feel full.
They made chickpea flour, which when eaten in the form of buns with jam caused people more satisfaction than after a regular pancake.
Scientists believe that replacing wheat flour with chickpea flour can reduce overeating and ultimately reduce obesity.
However, experts warn that simply replacing flour alone won’t be enough, as staying active and eating a healthy diet in general is essential to better health in the long run.
Researchers at the Quadrum Institute, a center for food and health research in Norwich, and King’s College London have made bread using “chickpea cellulose flour” instead of regular wheat flour.
This study is the first of its kind to examine a new ingredient made by PuseON Foods, created by the Quadram Institute.
Modern flours made from chickpeas, lentils, and beans include traditional milling that breaks down fibrous structures, key to legumes’ health benefits.
But the chickpea flour used in the study was made using a new grinding method that preserves the bean fiber structure.
Scientists say this provides a new way to enrich flour-based foods with additional nutritional benefits.
They wanted to see if this exchange would make people feel more satisfied and if it would affect the hormones that regulate satiety, insulin levels, and blood sugar.
Scientists have made three different types of buns.
One was made using regular white wheat flour and other batches had 30 or 60% of that flour replaced with PulseON Foods chickpea flour.
The study included 20 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 45 years.
They ate both buns, served with strawberry jam, sugar and a glass of water, on three different days after a 12-hour fast.
One blood sample was taken before the meal and then eight more samples four hours after the meal. Participants were tested for hunger levels before and after eating bread. But they did not comment on its taste.
The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that those who ate bread made with special chickpea flour had higher blood levels of satiety hormones.
The researchers said these signals send signals from the gut to the brain that make people feel full, meaning the participants felt less hungry after eating the chickpea-enriched bread.
The findings suggest that if food manufacturers made a “soft switch” to a low-fat chickpea blend, people would feel less hungry, which in turn could help avoid overeating and reduce the risk of obesity, the scientists said.
In addition to the potential side effect on weight, bread containing 30% chickpea cell meal lowers blood sugar levels by 40% compared to regular bread.
The researchers said this was due to the slower breakdown of starch in cell meal during digestion.
Therefore, those who eat bread may have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The team noted that more research is needed on whether regular consumption of foods made with chickpea flour can maintain a healthy body weight and manage diabetes. They are planning bigger experiments to test it.
Source: Daily Mail