Pine nut oil boosts appetite suppressors

In the face of the growing obesity health challenge, "appetite suppressants are increasingly interesting because they work on the very simple premise of 'What you don't eat now, you won't need to lose later,'" Alexandra Einerhand, director, nutrition and toxicology-Europe at Lipid Nutrition notes.

Einerhand says that in a study, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) derived from "Korean pine nuts, which have been part of our diet since before ancient Greek and Roman times, stimulated two well-known appetite suppressing peptide hormones at the same time that overweight women reported significantly less desire to eat only 30 minutes after ingestion," compared with an olive oil placebo.

In a paper being presented in an American Physiological Society session at Experimental Biology 2006, Einerhand reports that "in this randomized, double-blind cross-over trial, the greatest effect was observed after just 30 minutes, with the 18 women reporting a 29% reduction in "desire to eat" and a 36% drop in "prospective food intake" scores. Their subjective feelings of appetite were evaluated by visual analog scales, a validated scoring system.

The experiment found a parallel and significant increase in cholecystokinin (CCK) of 60% and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) of 25% that remained as long as four hours after ingestion. CCK and GLP1 are appetite suppressors, which "send signals of satiation to the brain diminishing the desire to eat and food intake usually significantly," she adds.

The experiment utilized 3 grams of a product called PinnoThin, comprised of over 88% Korean pine nut PUFAs, and which is marketed by Lipid Nutrition, a division of Loders Croklaan, of the Netherlands.

CLA differentially reduces fat mass in men and women in just 3 months

Two other presentations by Einerhand at Experimental Biology report on a six-month human trial with another Lipid Nutrition product called Clarinol, or conjugated linoleic acid.

"The location and gender differences in fat mass loss are very new and unexpected," Einerhand says: "Lost fat mass was from the legs and abdomen of women and from the abdomen of men. Neither men or women lost any fat from the arms," she adds.

"After only three months, there was a significant fat mass loss," Einerhand notes, and the losses continued for the next three months. After six months, there was an average fat mass loss of 2 kilos corresponding to about 6% fat loss. At the same time, "overall body weight loss was 'only' 1.5 kilos because there was a gain in muscle mass," she reports.

Waist measurements shrunk 2.2 centimeters and hips 0.5 cm over six months. Waist-hip ratio decreased a significant 0.024. BMI fell an on average 0.6, from the starting point of BMI 28-32 for the 118 overweight and obese subjects. In the trial, subjects received either 3.4 grams per day of CLA (Clarinol), or olive oil placebo.

Health implications, plus 'body molding' effects

"Overall, this location-specific loss of fat mass is both interesting and important," Einerhand notes. "While the fat mass loss in the legs and abdomen represents a kind of 'body shaping' effect, the loss of abdominal fat mass is potentially a very important healthy effect because abdominal fat is correlated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes," she adds. As part of the study, safety factors were monitored, and CLA was found to have no effect on insulin resistance.