Scientists have figured out how to deal with hidden hunger
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Everyone knows about the feeling of hunger-both children and adults. Each of us though sometimes, but felt unpleasant pulling "sucking" in an empty stomach. Such a feeling scientists call a clear hunger, and it is impossible to confuse it with anything. However, there is a hidden hunger - this is a state where people seem to not want to eat, but there is an acute shortage of necessary substances in their bodies. In this case, it is not only about vitamins, but micro- or macro elements. Hidden hunger is associated with a deficiency in the body of fats, proteins or carbohydrates.
What is most often consumed by a modern average resident of a megacity? This is mostly semi-finished, fast food, fast food, flavored with sweeteners, salt, cheap fatty components, emulsifying and stabilizing agents, dyes and fragrances, as well as other chemical ingredients on the list of "E-supplements." We will not again explain the lack of benefit from such nutrition. We will only explain that such a "food" can indeed cause an organism to have a latent hunger because of a lack of vital substances. That is, a person gorges, and even gaining excess weight, but the body at the same time starving.
According to information provided by the Food and Agriculture Department of the United Nations, the hidden type of hunger is troubling about 2 billion people on our planet. Scientists decided to tackle this problem, because such a state of deficiency often causes serious health problems.
Until today, the only option to eliminate hidden hunger was a long-term high-grade diet, with regular monitoring of the quality of food, with the calculation of not only the calorie content of the diet, but also its nutritional value. Now experts representing the Institute of Solid State Chemistry (IHTTM, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), announced the development of a method for encapsulating the substances necessary for the body. These substances are preliminarily obtained from rowan and Kalinium berries, St. John's wort and green tea leaves and transformed into special polysaccharide matrices. As a result, a powdery mass is produced, which can be added to any food product - even an ordinary hamburger.
The new powder component has no effect on the usual taste of the products. The polysaccharide matrix does not dissolve in the oral cavity: it occurs only in the environment of the stomach and intestines.
Currently, the researchers are studying this issue further. They need to assess the change in the nutritional value of the final product after adding a new drug. There is also information about the imminent admission to the market: according to experts' forecasts, the first shipment will arrive on the drugstore shelves in 1-2 years.
Information is available on the Institute's website - http://www.solid.nsc.ru
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