The gel which makes you feel bloated practically contains no calories

Scientists from the School of Chemical Engineering at Birmingham University may have invented the weight loss milkshake of the future!  Many people use special milkshakes which are very low in calories to help them stave off hunger pangs throughout the day, but they often find themselves still very tempted to snack unhealthily because the filling effects of the milkshake soon wear off.

The new milkshake however from Birmingham University works differently and its inventors say it makes you think you have just eaten a big meal. The key ingredient in this new formula is a compound called gellan gum that is often used to thicken food. What the scientists have done is turn this compound into a drinkable liquid which then solidifies into a gel in the stomach when it comes into contact with the digestive juices.

The gel which makes you feel bloated practically contains no calories and is slowly digested over six hours. The head researcher Dr Fotis Spyropoulos explained that the beauty of this idea was that it was so simple and that they hoped to add specific nutrients to the drink so that not only would it be an appetite suppressant but it would also be healthy. It has also been put forward that the gel should contain energy so that you will not feel lethargic from a lack of body fuel.

At Ukmedix News when we discussed this in the newsroom we remembered that a couple of years back an Italian inventor had come up with something similar which was supposed to make you feel like you had eaten a big plate of pasta, which we have not heard of anything for a long while. Let’s hope that this new effort from Birmingham University is developed into something effective and safe for all people who want to lose weight.