Breaking Ground at Umass - Lite
UMASS-Amherst students live on a campus at the forefront of scientific research. One of those very interesting research projects, has to do with the future of Low-Calorie foods, but with a new twist. These new foods will contain just as much fat as normal foods, but the trick is your body will not be able to digest it.
This is made possible by a new technique discovered by Julian McClements, professor of Food Science, along with Food Science professors Eric Decker and Yeonhwa Park. Their research involves coating fat molecules in layers of dietary fiber. As McClements describes it, "Foods produced with these encapsulated fats should have the same qualities as conventional high-fat foods.” The foods will taste exactly like their normal counterparts but with significantly less calories.
They are continuing work on stabilizing these fiber layers so that the fat molecules will taste great, and will then pass through your body without ever being broken down. This type of discovery could truly revolutionize the food industry and more.
Supplements, vitamins, and drug therapies are also candidates for the use of these fiber layers. They would make it possible to have these treatments target specific areas of the body. Examples include vitamins traveling to the small intestine, without being broken down in the stomach, where they can be more readily absorbed.
Either way, because this process uses only food-grade components there is no FDA approval required, which means we could be seeing this used relatively quickly. As of right now, McClemens and company are waiting on a patent and continuing their research. The sooner they complete it, the sooner we can all have our cake and eat it too.
Posted by: Scott Lee
posted by PWH @ 1:17 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
The last line of your blog summed it up quite nicely. Pretty soon we will, quite literaly, be able to have our cake and eat it to. This was an interesting post because I was completely unaware that this type of research was being done. Are there any health risks associated with this non-digestible fats? It would be great to have healthier food that still tastes good, but I wonder if there are any unknown trade-offs. I would like to know more about the physiological breakdown of normal fats and what it is about the fiber coats that prevent them from being absorbed. Good post. It's cool to see that this kind of applicable research is being done right here on out campus.
Posted by: T. FitzGerald
I really enjoyed this post. I like to learn about the new findings that they are coming out with to improve people's diets. It seems hard to believe that something like this is possible, and I, too, wonder if there are any health risks that come with this advancement. It seems very advanced and I'm sure they haven't had a chance to research these things yet. I think that I would be skeptical to try something like this just because it seems too artificial to put in my body, but I would deffinitely like to read more about this topic. Well written post.
Posted by: Meaghan Elliott
I'm wondering how coating the fats with these linings will actually prevent the digestion of the fat. Are the fiber linings non-digestible, which places the fat in a protective capsule that can't be broken down? If that's the case, was anything mentioned as to why the fat molecules would taste the same, and not like fiber? It's interesting research. If this turns out to be successful, the food industry may change forever. Although, I wonder if the price of fatty foods would increase?
Posted by: Nate Pitcher
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