Satiety: The New Diet Weapon

by Leanna Skarnulis
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic - Feature

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

"Satiety" is the new diet buzzword, a weapon to fight the bulge to reduce calorie intake by managing hunger. It is linked to terms such as "volumetrics", "energy density" and "sensory-specific satiety".

Leanna Skarnulis gives the example of being able to feel full after a bowl of oatmeal but needing 3 doughnuts before feeling any sign of satisfaction. The reason for this is the satiety level of the aforementioned foods. A satiety index, developed by Susanna Holt, PhD, was reported in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. With 240 calorie portions of popular foods, she ranked them comparing them to a slice of white bread, which ranked at 100. Oatmeal's satiety level is high at 209 while the doughnut is at 68. Leanna notes that interestingly, potatoes ranked highest at 323, whereas its counterpart, the French fry, was at 116.

Two strategies by two researchers are defined, David L. Katz, MD, MPH, uses a "Flavor-Point" strategy while Barbara Rolls, PhD, uses the strategy of foods that have fewer calories by weight comparing with those that are energy dense, in order to feel full on less calories.

The abundance of flavors maybe entice overindulgence as they over stimulate the brain's appetite centers which leads to overeating before feeling full. According to researchers, the different types of flavors such as salty, sweet and sour can activate their own appetite centers in the brain.

According to David L. Katz, MD, MPH, "Once you turn on an appetite center, you must eat until it registers fullness. If you turn on many centers at once, you must eat until they're all full."

Barbara Rolls, PhD, is quoted in this article as stating that satiety is the missing ingredient of most weightloss programs. Her volumentrics strategy is based on feeling full faster. For example, when comparing raisins to plump grapes, at equal servings of 110 calories, they are more likely to be overconsumed as the grapes are naturally plumped with water and so less is consumed. Rolls lists a hierarchy of low to high energy density food levels.

Emotional eating is addressed as a condition even satiety may not be able to console as it is more deeply rooted. Social triggers however need to be dealt with skills of choosing low energy dense foods that make us feel full faster.

Response:

The word satiety has recently made an appearance in our vocabulary and is surprisingly being ubiquitously found online. As opposed to being found on a diet or weightloss website, this article was posted on WebMD which generally gives information on various physical, therefore it was a surprise to see the word diet pop up here and there as well as a weekly diet regime offered based on the idea of satiety.

One of the most memorable quotes from Brian Wansink's book "Mindless Eating: why we eat more than we think", is "the best diet, is the one you don't know you're on". We believe this is an essential affirmation that inspired the concept of our Slo collection A progressive lifestyle change is much more beneficial than a sudden change brought on by force on ourselves, one is longterm while the other is temporary.

This article states that our brains have different appetite centers which is the reason for overindulgence when eating various foods of differing flavours. Although our plates are not strictly designed to cater to one appetite center, through their shape they lend themselves more easily to one type of food at a time rather than many all at once.

This reading further emphasizes our belief of the important role the brain plays in the act of eating and how we can manipulate it through understanding the way it reacts and behaves.

Also, as Barbara Rolls', PhD, research suggest, we hope to allow for feeling full or "satiated" faster so that the unnecessary consumption calories is avoided.

Eating slowly may not help you shed pounds

by Barbara Rolls, Ph. D. for msnbc.com

This article, in very brief form, states matter-of-factly that eating slowly doesn't not necessarily lead to weight loss. There has been no concrete evidence of this fact except for a few non-conclusive tests.

Eating quickly has long been seen as an ill-mannered habit as well as one that leads to overeating. Tips to eat less will include pausing between spoonfuls and putting the fork down while chewing. Diet experts have been pushing this kind of advice since the early 1970s.

There have been tests trying to change people's behaviors, one in particular reducing the amount of food per bite to slow the eating rate which resulted in the same amount of food consumed but in a longer time span.

Our general perception is that by slowing our eating pace, the body has time to release hormones signaling that we've eaten enough leading to fewer calories consumed during a meal. On the one hand many say it takes 15 minutes to register satiety while some research shows that it can sometimes taken up to an hour for the signals of fullness to peak.

According to PhD Barbara Rolls, there are a number of reasons why we eat past our caloric needs in our "food-laden environment". She states that palatability and variety of food matters more than the rate at which it is consumed.

While eating, the pleasure of food declines, feeling satiated is more than filling the stomach. When hungry, the first bite is delicious, as the meal comes to an end, it is progressively less pleasant. However a new course awakens the senses.

Ph.D. Barbara Rolls defines this as "sensory-specific satiety" which means becoming full from a specific sensory experience, the given example being pasta. It is the reason why after many salty foods we can still enjoy a sweet dessert due to the difference in taste. According to Ph.D. Barbara Rolls, meals with many different sensory experiences can prolong eating and may have an influence on how much is eaten and how quickly.

Response:

This newly found article from Jan 11, 2008, brings forward an aspect of satiation we had not previously explored. Our research included the long-standing general knowledge of hormones signaling the brain as well as eating slower being a benefit to lessen caloric intake, so we did not question it. One thing we were sure of however is the necessity of satiation to avoid overeating and having feelings of regret later on.

Although PhD Barbara Rolls refutes the consistency of the amount time needed for hormones to signal a state of satiety to the brain, we believe it is closely linked to the mindfulness aspect of our plates. Speed can be equated to quantity over quality. When we accomplish tasks quickly, it is to be efficient, often times temporarily so, and satisfactory at that degree.

Instinct and quick-witted use of resources is necessary to accomplish tasks quickly, which also requires a certain level of "mindlessness", therefore we may end up caring less about what it is we are engaging in specifically as it is a means to an end or a profit.

The current Slow Movement is not particularly referring to the statement of everything fast must suddenly slow down or come to a halt. In fact, it is a manifesto of mindfulness, and of care in actions.

Inspired by this movement we hope to slow eating behaviors at the table to invite mindfulness and participation in one's own nutrition and satiation.

Satiety vs Satiation

sa•ti•e•ty (s-t-t)

n.
The condition of being full or gratified beyond the point of satisfaction; surfeit.

sa•ti•ate (ssh-t)

tr.v. sa•ti•at•ed, sa•ti•at•ing, sa•ti•ates
1. To satisfy (an appetite or desire) fully.
2. To satisfy to excess.
adj. (-t)
Filled to satisfaction.

sati•ation n.

Noun
1. satiation - the state of being satisfactorily full and unable to take on more
repletion, satiety
fullness - the condition of being filled to capacity
2. satiation - the act of achieving full gratification
gratification - the act or an instance of satisfying

Although seemingly similar the definitions here of the words satiety and satiation differ slightly.

Satiety is to be full beyond satisfaction whereas satiation means to fulfill the condition of satisfaction.

Due to this differentiation, we decided that satiation is a word that best describes our intentions when speaking of the SlO collection.

Foodapy no more!

Picking up from where Foodapy ended last year, Marian and I (Miliana) have since had the concepts around the project brewing in our mind. We knew we wanted to push the project further seeing as our knowledge and ressources were only enough to materialize our ideas into wooden prototype plates.

Following an eventful winter session, we decided we should really take advantage of pursuing this project under the guidance of our teacher Dr. Rhona Richman Kenneally, who is currently well into an extensive research concerning food in the home and out and thus happily agreed to nest us under her wings for a summer independant course.

Coincidentally we found the perfect motivation to help us further our concept, it is a Food design competition, called Food design 6 (click on image below for link) which is also an exhibition that will take place in Torino, Italy and continue at the London Metropolitan University.

Our goal is to submit a prototype of our plates along with research in hopes of winning and participating in the exhibition. We believe strongly in our concepts and wish to re-design the eating experience to deliver satiation, a positive lifestyle and a sense of opulence. Thus we've newly named the project the SLO collection in regards to the Slow movement influences of our plates.