Doubt it. Although the folks at Satisfit Weight Care Technology may try and convince you differently. After some pre-clininical trials, the new "nutritional" additive, Satisfit, is said to have had some success preventing the absorption of fat. Brett Zarda's recent post on PopSci explains:According to Dow, Satisfit is a “highly functionalized cellulose that is partially hydrophobic and may behave similarly to fat.” That behavior would allow the ingredient to take trans and saturated fat out of the body that normally would have added to your love handles. The cherry on top (or icing on the cake, as it were) is that Satisfit doesn’t add any calories to the food. It's 100 percent soluble, meaning it could easily by added to anything from beverages, to dairy products, to microwave meals. Dow is currently looking for development partners to test the effectiveness in specific foods during human clinical trials.
I'm not sure what bothers me more: the obnoxious "satisfied" + "physically fit" marketing mumbo jumbo behind the name or the fact this type of attempt at a solution completely ignores the root of the problem. Ugh.
4 comments:
interesting to say the least! This article and for that matter society in general is always looking for the easy way out. I think the second and third order health effects would more than likely out way any benifits (which are not mentioned). Thanks again for the wonderful summary as always!
Isn't this the same concept that happened when Procter & Gamble started making potato chips out of "Olestra"--that the body couldn't absorb the fat?
As I recall, it also had some disastrous effects on the human digestive track.
I had forgotten about all the potential side effects... yuck... now alli is coming to mind too.
Personally, I'm waiting for the day when we'll all have genetically engineered tapeworms buried in our guts. The tapeworms will devour excess calories/fats and leave you fit and nutritionally complete. Wormfit? SatisWorm?
The worms could even manufacture and secrete nutrients that are lacking in your diet!
It's a marketing nightmare, but an excellent idea (which I can't take credit for. Brian Aldiss mentioned it in his story "Super Toys Last All Summer Long").
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