Media Release
February 2 2006
UniSA investigates a healthy meal replacement alternative
Researchers at UniSA are looking for volunteers to trial two new dairy-based meal replacement drinks expected to improve mood, suppress appetite, and aid weight loss.
Meal replacement drinks are emerging as a popular meal alternative for people juggling a hectic working life – and the new beverages UniSA is testing are expected to provide more health benefits than other commercial brands currently offered on the market.
Professor Peter Howe and Dr Jon Buckley are the key researchers and organisers of the study, which is being undertaken at the Nutritional Physiology Research Centre – an association that focuses on optimising human health through targeted diet and lifestyle changes.
“While there are no substitutes to a healthy, balanced diet – if people are going to consume a meal replacement instead of eat a conventional meal to assist in losing weight or preventing weight gain – we believe that this product will be more effective and offer more health benefits than other products,” Dr Buckley said.
“Initial in-vitro tests (performed on human cells in test tubes) indicated that the drinks we are testing will not only suppress appetite, but should also improve mood,” Dr Buckley said.
“In the test tube the products increased the production of a number of hormones known to improve mood and reduce hunger.”
Dr Buckley said that the western world is in the midst of an obesity epidemic – and with this comes associated physical and psychological problems, such as diabetes, stroke, cancer and depression.
“This product is another potential tool in the armoury to fight against the current obesity epidemic.
“We are expecting that these drinks will make people feel fuller and as a result they will not want to eat as much. In the long term, this can lead to weight loss, or prevent weight gain in people who are presently not overweight,” he said.
Buckley and Howe are seeking volunteers to participate in the study.
Participants will need to attend UniSA’s City East campus on Frome Road for four mornings in Feb/March. Each visit will last approximately four hours.
“During these visits we will take blood samples to measure hormone levels, as well as administer mood and hunger assessments using visual analogue scales,” Dr Buckley said.
“Participants will be required to fast for four mornings in the month, and then drink a dairy-based meal replacement beverage.
“At the end of the three-hour testing sessions, participants will get
to eat as much as they want from a cold buffet, so that their appetite
can be assessed.”
To be eligible for the study, volunteers must be:
• male
• reasonably healthy
• between 18-50 years
• either normal weight or obese.
In addition to this volunteers can’t be heavy drinkers or smokers; or on antidepressants or suffer from gastrointestinal or metabolic disease.
Volunteers will receive an honorarium upon completion of the study.
Further Information
For further information or to express interest in participating in this
study, please contact Erin Riley on (08) 8302 2097 between 9am-4pm
Monday to Friday, or leave a message any time or email
nutritional.physiology@unisa.edu.au
Contact for interviews
-
Dr Jon Buckley office (08) 8302 1853 mobile 0417 880 030 email
jon.buckley@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Rebecca Gill office (08) 8302 0096 mobile 0404 857 977 email rebecca.gill@unisa.edu.au