Appetite control and gastrointestinal hormonal behavior (CCK, GLP-1, PYY 1–36) following low doses of a whey protein-rich nutraceutic

Whey proteins represent the most satiating nutrients. In particular, their effects are due to enterohormonal changes (CCK, GLP-1 and PYY 1–36) observed after their exclusive ingestion. Glucomannan has important satiety property due to volume increase following gelification. The aim of the study is the evaluation of subjective rate of hunger and enterohormone concentrations (CCK, GLP-1, PYY 1–36) following oral loading of a mixture containing WP (8 g) or casein (8 g) plus glucomannan (1 g) (Colordiet(®), Inpha DUEMILA Srl Lecco, Italy). The study was conducted as a double-blind crossover with five healthy volunteers (BMI 22–26 kg/m(2) aging 18–65 years) in acute and a wash-out period of 1 week between the first and the second evaluation. From the analysis of the data, we observe that the load with WP induces a significant decrease in the desire to eat after 90 min (P < 0.0446) when compared with casein. As far as plasma hormones are concerned, there was a significant increase only in GLP-1 at 90 min after WP (P < 0.00166) and 180 min after casein (T0 vs. T180 P = 0.000129). There is a significant correlation between the increase in GLP-1 and decrease of desire to eat (R = −0.93). There is a tendency to the increasing of CCK after 90 min, which is not significant (P = 0.091). These results could be due to (a) the low number of cases or (b) the low dose of protein used. The present study suggests that a mixture of WP plus glucomannan exerts a decrease in the desire to eat which is correlated to enterohormonal modification (GLP-1 increase) despite the low content of protein (8 g) and the presence of glucomannan, which could reduce the fast absorption of WP in relation to the net forming during the gelification of the gastric environment.