A new study on how the stomach reacts to soup, has confirmed it is a weight loss tip that works.
The mention of the word soup is often not met with enthusiasm when one is trying to shed a few extra pounds. But now a study by doctors in the United Kingdom has revealed that drinking lots of soup helps dull the sensation to frequently snack.
It took some non-invasive methods to arrive at how the stomach reacts to soup. The doctors used ultrasound and MRI to map the stomach among two sets of participants—those who ate solid food with water and those who ate the same food as soup. It is known that after a meal the pyloric sphincter valve at the bottom of the stomach holds food back so that the digestive juices can work. Water, however, passes straight through to the intestines. Thus it seems that drinking water does not contribute to a full stomach.
The doctors found that when the same food was eaten as a thick soup, the mixture remains in the stomach because the water and food are tough to separate. The scans confirmed that the stomach stays full for longer, stopping hunger pangs.
The key to hunger pangs is the hormone called ghrelin, secreted by cells in the stomach wall. Ghrelin travels via the blood stream to the brain’s appetite centre, an organ called the hypothalamus. Ghrelin thus regulates the appetite system and its frequent secretion has been blamed for snacking in between meals. When the stomach wall is stretched when full, the ghrelin is not produced and there is less likelihood of snacking. In fact, this hormone cycle has been nicknamed by scientists as the “cupcake circuit”.
But this finding about soups must be taken with caution. It is not a reason to go on a cabbage soup diet, which is a fad among people who want to lose weight quickly. While on the cabbage soup diet a person substitutes his daily meals with cabbage soup. It is a low-calorie, high fibre and zero protein diet. But cabbage, though nutritious, does not supply the body with all the essentials it needs.