Asian Scientist (Jun. 07, 2022)–‘Burn fats! Reduce weight!’ We’re bombarded with weight reduction merchandise on a regular basis, notably miracle working fats burners. Producers proclaim that fats burners promote weight reduction by decreasing fats absorption.
This begs the query: Are these industrial merchandise really efficient? A multidisciplinary crew on the Nationwide College of Singapore (NUS) has developed a scientifically confirmed fats absorption capsule from pineapple leaves. Their findings have been just lately printed in NUSNews.
International weight problems charges have tripled over the previous 50 years. This pattern has been on the rise, contributed by sedentary life and exacerbated by a extremely fatty weight-reduction plan. This spells bother as a result of extreme fats consumption results in excessive levels of cholesterol which improve probabilities of growing dread circumstances like hypertension, coronary heart assault and most cancers.
Alarmingly, 35.5% of Singapore residents aged between 18 and 74 years outdated have hypertension, and 39.1% of the residents in the identical age group have excessive ldl cholesterol. Extreme fats consumption can lower folks’s high quality of life and place a better burden on the healthcare system of their nations.
As such, many individuals may resort to fats burners to assist alleviate the issue. Nevertheless, present industrial fats burners aren’t backed by scientific proof on their effectiveness in aiding weight reduction. Moreover, they’re costly and comprise chemical components. No in-depth analysis has been carried out on these components to look at their precise effectiveness and potential unwanted effects like excessive coronary heart charges and nausea.
In the meantime, pineapple leaves are a pure fats absorber. Their use as a industrial fats burner may scale back post-agricultural wastage, whereas permitting folks to shed some pounds safely and successfully. “We capitalised on the wonderful mechanical properties of pineapple leaf fibres for fats absorption” stated analysis crew chief Affiliate Professor Duong Hai-Minh from the Division of Mechanical Engineering below the NUS Faculty of Design and Engineering.
These capsules are the first-of-its form to repurpose the in any other case discarded pineapple leaves. Pineapple leaf fibres are upcycled to supply ingestible capsules. The cellulose present in pure fibres absorbs fat (saturated or unsaturated fat, you title them!) to type a fat-coated fibre lump. The human physique is unable to digest the fibre and the capsule passes by way of the digestive tract to be excreted in a number of days.
Laboratory checks have yielded promising outcomes. Imitating acidic circumstances of the intestine, the NUS crew discovered that one gram of the capsule can take up as much as 65 grams of cooked and human fat. Discuss killing two birds with one stone at a fraction of the associated fee! “You will have lower than one capsule of pineapple leaf fibres to soak up the saturated fat from consuming one hamburger,” Assoc Prof Duong added.
This revolutionary discovery could possibly be harnessed for various cellulose fibres like sugarcane and low grounds to develop different fats burners and assist scale back world weight problems. The crew is now engaged on patenting this novel software and dealing with related companions to carry this expertise to the market.
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Supply: Nationwide College of Singapore; Picture: Shutterstock