Spinach: Eat This And You'll Slow Fat Digestion

If you eat your spinach, you'll grow up nice and strong--at least this was the case for the old-time cartoon, Popeye.

Now, new findings published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition show that a healthy dose of spinach can also help to curb hunger cravings.

This leafy green vegetable is high in concentrated extracts of thylakoids that increase satiety and slow fat digestion.

In this particular study, researchers analyzed data from 60 people to examine the effect of consuming a single dose of concentrated extract of thylakoids from spinach on satiety, lipids glucose and food intake compared to a placebo.

After several hours, researchers also served the participants pizza to determine just how much the subjects would eat, according to Battle Diabetes.

"The results showed that the spinach extract containing thylakoids increased satiety over a two-hour period compared to a placebo," a news release on the study stated.

More specifically, researchers found that while the spinach extract containing thylakoids increased satiety over a two-hour period compared to those who received the placebo, there was little difference in plasma lipids and energy intake at dinner. Furthermore, males seemed to show a trend toward decreased energy intake.

A previous study also showed that women had reduced cravings for sweets following a dose of spinach extract while men showed decreased energy intake.

"The reduction in hunger and the desire for salty food that we saw in this study might make thylakoids particularly useful for people with high blood pressure and associated weight problems," concluded Dr. Frank Greenway, study co-author.

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