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For several months now, I’ve been studying how the new medications, Ozempic and Wegovy, cause dramatic weight loss.
Both medications contain a compound, semaglutide, that squelches hunger like a fly swatter smashes a mosquito. People who take the medication say they no longer have constant cravings for food, so they eat less frequently. The drug seems to quiet what some people call “food noise,” the constant internal chatter telling them to eat.
While reading study after study about Wevgovy and Ozempic, I learned that the drug mimics a hormone that our bodies naturally make when we’re eating food. It’s called GLP-1. This made me wonder: Could we increase levels of this hormone by changing our diet?
Turns out, the answer is yes – you can increase your body’s production of GLP-1 with your diet, says Frank Duca, who studies metabolic diseases at the University of Arizona. One of the key foods that triggers its release is a food most Americans struggle to eat enough of, even though it comes with a cornucopia of health benefits. Yup, I’m talking about fiber.
“Whenever my family finds out that I’m studying obesity or diabetes, they say, ‘Oh, what’s the wonder drug? What do I need to take? What do I need to do?'” Duca explains. “And I say, ‘Eat more fiber.’ “
But here’s the hitch. Not all fiber works the same way. Duca and other researchers are beginning to show that particular types of fibers are more potent at triggering GLP-1 release and at regulating hunger than others. “We’re seeing now that companies are adding fiber to foods, but a lot of the time, they don’t add the kind of fiber that’s super beneficial for you,” Duca says.
How GLP-1 helps flip hunger into satisfaction
To understand why fiber is so important for producing GLP-1, let’s look at what happens when you don’t eat much fiber. Let’s say you wake up in the morning feeling hungry, and you eat two slices of white bread and a fried egg. As the digested food moves into the small intestine, many of the nutrients, such as the carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids, trigger an avalanche of activity in your blood and brain.
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A fiber found in barley, called beta-glucan, may improve insulin sensitivity, lower blood pressure, and increase satiation between meals, research shows. LauriPatterson/Getty Images
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