Taking a ‘feel fuller’ supplement and going for a walk each day ‘boosts how quickly your body burns fat – regardless of what you eat’
Moderate exercise and a supplement which makes the body feel full could help people to burn fat faster without changing their diet, according to research.
Scientists tested the supplement, which is made of a chemical found naturally in the body, on a group of overweight women over the course of four weeks.
The inulin-propionate ester (IPE) pill ‘significantly’ increased the rate at which the women’s bodies burned fat while they were resting, the study found.
Although the study was too short for the people to lose any meaningful amount of weight, burning fat faster over a longer period of time should speed up weight loss.
The inulin-propionate ester (IPE) pill ‘significantly’ increased the rate at which the women’s bodies burned fat while they were resting, the study found (stock image)
A team from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, the Universities of Glasgow and the West of Scotland, and Imperial College London did the study on 20 women.
Nine of them took the IPE supplement and 11 took a placebo designed to have no effect, while all the women did a ‘moderate intensity’ exercise programme.
A moderate intensity workout may include fast walking or dancing, according to the World Health Organization.
The IPE pill, which makes you feel full, could speed up fat burning because the body’s metabolism is faster when it is full with food.
The Scottish researchers found women’s fat-burning rate was faster when they were resting if they had taken the pill, and the effect appeared to last for hours afterward.s
Dr Douglas Morrison, of the Scottish Universities Environment Research Centre, said: ‘Adding moderate exercise to your daily routine is a good thing for your cardiovascular and general health.
‘But the effects it has on the amount of fat which you burn while at rest and after a meal can be inconsistent and these effects don’t easily translate through to changes in body composition and body mass.
‘It’s interesting that those who took the IPE supplement saw a significant and long-lasting boost to the rate which they burned fat.
‘Our own research has shown that IPE can encourage people to feel full while eating less, and that it encourages the human body to burn fat faster.
‘What we’ve been able to show for the first time is that this latter effect continues when exercise is added to regular IPE intake.
‘We’re keen to explore these effects further in more comprehensive randomised controlled trials in the future.’
The study was published in the journal Metabolism