NEW YORK, Mar 04 (Reuters Health) -- Eating pasta, white bread, potatoes, and other rapidly digested "starchy" or "sugary" foods may lead to overeating by triggering a hormonal state that convinces the body it is still hungry, researchers report this month in the electronic version of the journal Pediatrics.
Dr. David S. Ludwig of Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues offered 12 obese teenage boys unlimited snacks several hours after giving them low-, medium-, or high-starch meals.
The low-starch meal consisted of a vegetable omelet and fruit, the medium was unprocessed oatmeal, and the high-starch meal was processed "instant" oatmeal.
All of the meals had the same number of calories.
The boys who had eaten the high-starch instant oatmeal ate 81% more snacks than those who had eaten the low-starch omelet and fruit, the researchers found.
The investigators also found that the blood sugar of these boys had risen sharply and then crashed, triggering hunger.
More Americans are obese now than at any time in recorded history -- approximately 20% of children and more than 33% of adults. The popularity of starchy foods may play a role, Ludwig's team notes.
Although more work needs to be done to determine the optimal healthy diet, the study authors write that "this study suggests possible advantages for treatment of obesity... with abundant quantities of vegetables, legumes, and fruits; decreased amounts of... carbohydrates; and moderate intake of protein and fats."
SOURCE: Pediatrics 1999;103:e26.
