It is possible to eat sugar and lose weight, according to Japanese researchers, just as long as that sugar contains dietary fibres.
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A research group from the Kagoshima University overturned the traditional assumption that sugar causes weight gain after experimenting with the dietary habits of mice and rats. Professor Makoto Fujii, from the university’s school of agriculture, and assistant Professor Hou Dexing found that the animals lost weight when they ate sugar combined with arabinose, a sugar found in dietary fibre.
Over a 30-day period, mice and rats fed on a diet containing 20% sugar and 2.5% arabinose lost an average 36% of the fat around the kidneys and neutral lipids in the blood, compared with the control animals who ate only sugar. Another group who ate just arabinose alone also showed no weight loss.
Fujii explained to the Japan Times that sugar is broken down by enzymes in the small intestine, and changed to blood glucose before becoming fat. The simultaneous consumption of arabinose however works to inhibit the decomposing enzymes, and glucose that is not digested in the small intestine moves to the large intestine, where it is broken down by microbes. These produce large amounts of organic acids that curtail fat production in the liver.
The group believes that the dietary method will be useful not only in weight reduction but also in combating obesity and helping to prevent health problems such as diabetes and hypertension.
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