Novel insights on the behaviour of aerated drinks in the stomach and their effects on appetite published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Research by scientists in the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre and the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre in collaboration with food giant Unilever investigating the appetite effects of aerated (foamed) drinks has been published online, Open Access, in the leading peer-reviewed journal American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Entrapping large amounts of water or air into foods may reduce appetite, but the mechanisms for this were unknown. In this study we fed two different aerated drinks and a liquid drink to healthy volunteers and we imaged their stomach at intervals using MRI. We measured separately the volumes of foam, liquid and air layers in the stomach recording at the same time their feelings of appetite. Our data suggested that the ability of aerated drinks to suppress hunger could largely be explained with effects on gastric volumes and emptying.

These novel insights add to our current understanding of appetite suppression. This could be useful to help the manufacture of aerated products by providing an objective assessment of in vivo performance and improved understanding of mechanisms affecting gastrointestinal physiology and appetite.

Find out more about GI MRI research at the School of Medicine.