How to trick the brain into eating less

If you know you really should diet and exercise a little, researchers have discovered a pain-free method that curbs your appetite while also burning off some calories – even when you’re sitting in your armchair.

Chewing sugar-free gum for three 20-minute bursts in the morning will curb your appetite for lunch – and you won’t feel hungry in the afternoon – and the chewing action burns around 5 per cent more energy.

Prof Kathleen Melanson at the University of Rhode Island has discovered that gum-chewers were eating around 67 fewer calories for lunch compared with other volunteers who didn’t chew gum. 

In the experiment on 35 volunteers, Melanson found that the gum-chewing was tricking the brain into believing the person was eating, which, in turn, informed the region of the brain that controls appetite.

(Source: University of Rhode Island; http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=5092).