If you're on a diet, protein is the way to go

According to a story in Reuters today, proteins help to keep a hunger hormone, called 'ghrelin', in check, whereas fats and carbohydrates do a feebler job at suppressing it. That means if you eat fats or carbs, you both eat more and feel hungry again quite quickly, whereas if you eat proteins, you're satiated sooner and can manage without food for longer.

"Proteins were the best suppressor of ghrelin in terms of the combination of the depth and duration of suppression," said Dr David Cummings of the University of Washington in Seattle, who worked on the study, adding that this was good news as many diets contain significant amounts of protein.

Fats apparently do the worst job of suppressing ghrelin, while carbohydrates suppress the hormone successfully at first, but levels then rebound to a higher level than they were before. Is this why you always feel hungry after a Chinese takeaway, I ask myself?

So it looks like a steak and salad is back on the menu, girls.

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