How Fatty Foods Curb Hunger?

Fatty foods may not be the healthiest diet choice, but those rich in unsaturated fats - such as avocados, nuts and olive oil - have been found to play a pivotal role in sending this important message to your brain: stop eating, you’re full.

A new study by UC Irvine pharmacologists shows that these fats trigger production of a compound in the small intestine that curbs hunger pangs.

This discovery, the researchers say, points toward new approaches to treating obesity and other eating disorders.

Daniele Piomelli, the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in Neurosciences, and his colleagues have studied how a fat-derived compound called oleoylethanolamide regulates hunger and body weight.

In their current work, they found that an unsaturated fatty acid called oleic acid stimulates production of OEA, which in turn decreases appetite.

Oleic acid is transformed into OEA by cells in the upper region of the small intestine. OEA then finds its way to nerve endings that carry the hunger-curbing message to the brain.

Read more at Medical News Today