Pine Nut Oil Extract Found to Reduce Appetite, Caloric Intake at Meals

Monday, August 18, 2008 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: pinolenic acid, health news, Natural News

(NaturalNews) In addition to reducing appetite and increasing the feeling of being satiated, pine nut oil extract also reduces overall calorie intake, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Liverpool and published in the journal Lipids in Health and Disease.

Prior research has suggested that Korean pine nut oil increases the gut's release of the hormone cholecystokinin, producing a feeling of fullness.

The current study was carried out using Lipid Nutrition's PinoThin brand pine nut oil extracts, and was funded by that company. Researchers gave 45 overweight women a dose of a PinoThin supplement 30 minutes before a buffet lunch. The total water and food content of the buffet was weighed before and after each volunteer ate, to give an accurate measure of total consumption. The participants were also asked to rate their hunger, fullness, satisfaction, desire to eat, thirst, nausea and perception of how much they were able to eat by marking a 100mm horizontal line somewhere between "not at all" and "extremely."

The supplements used were PinoThin 2g free fatty acid (FFA), and 2g, 4g or 6g PinoThin triglyceride (TG). All participants were between the ages of 18 and 65 and had a body mass index between 25 and 30. All participants were tested with all four supplements, with one week separating each different test.

Participants who had taken the FFA supplement consumed fewer calories and less total food than participants given a placebo olive oil supplement, eating 9g less food and 7 percent fewer calories.

The calorie decrease was not statistically significant.

There was no difference observed between the two groups in their non-supplemented evening meal, leading the researchers to conclude that the pine nut oil does not cause people to compensate by eating more later.

No differences in eating were observed in the TG groups, although the researchers noted that the effects of TG are believed to be more delayed than those of FFA, and may simply not have showed up in the observation period.