Chewing your way to weight loss

Elastic solution

A team of scientists, led by an American chemist Robert Doyle, demonstrated that a human hormone PYY helps people feel ‘full’ after eating and can be delivered into the bloodstream orally.

“PYY is an appetite-suppressing hormone but when taken orally the hormone is destroyed in the stomach and that which isn’t destroyed has difficulty crossing into the bloodstream through the intestines,” said Doyle.

The next step involves finding ways to insert a combo of vitamin B12 and PYY into the chewing gum to help people shed weight in the same way as nicotine-laced gum is used to help people stop smoking, the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry reported.

“If we are successful, PYY-laced gum would be a natural way to help people lose weight, they could eat a balanced meal, then chew a stick of gum,” said Doyle, a university statement reported.

“The PYY supplement would begin to kick in about three to four hours later, decreasing their appetite as they approach their next meal,” he added.

Several years ago, Doyle conducted a research where he developed a way to use vitamin B12 as a vehicle for the oral delivery of hormone insulin. The capsule was able to pass through the digestive system and carry with it insulin and other substances into the bloodstream.

Similarly, his research team attached the PYY hormone to his patent-pending vitamin B12 system.

“Phase one of this study was to show that we could deliver a clinically relevant amount of PYY into the bloodstream.

We did that, and we are very excited by the results,” he said. But too much of gum chewing can lead to diarrhoea, abdominal pain and excessive weight loss.