HEALTH NEWS

Study Title:

Protein Helps You Feel Full

Study Abstract

Our objective was to study the relationship between the satiety induced by high-protein meals and the activation of brain areas involved in the onset of satiety. In rats, we used immunohistochemistry to monitor brain centers activated by a meal by receiving information from the gastrointestinal tract or via humoral pathways. In the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), the acute or chronic intake of high-protein meals led to increased activation of the noradrenergic/adrenergic neurons involved in cholecystokinin-induced satiety. In the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, the melanocortin pathway was also more strongly activated after the acute or chronic intake of high-protein meals. Moreover, the glucagon-like peptide 1 pathway arising from the NTS, which is triggered, among other behaviors, during nonphysiological anorexia, was not activated by high-protein meals, supporting the lack of aversive behavior associated with this diet. Taken together, these results show that the ability of high-protein meals to inhibit food intake occurs alongside the activation, in nutrient-sensitive brain areas, of several specific neuronal populations involved in satiety.

Study Information

Rodolphe Faipoux, Daniel Tomé, Sylvette Gougis, Nicolas Darcel and Gilles Fromentin.
Proteins Activate Satiety-Related Neuronal Pathways in the Brainstem and Hypothalamus of Rats
Journal of Nutrition
2008 June
Nutrition Physiology and Ingestive Behavior, INRA, AgroParisTech, CRNH-IdF, F-75005 Paris, France.