Michael Mosley has shared the type of food that can help people stave off their sugar cravings.
According to the TV presenter and creator of the Fast 800 diet, swapping out sugary sweets with fruit that's filled with fibre may prove beneficial as new research is showing the positive impact it can have on cravings.
In a recent episode of his BBC podcast, Just One Thing, Mosely shared his thoughts on using fruits to curb sugar cravings and spoke to experts on the subject.
He speaks to a woman named Bianca and tasks her with reducing her sugar intake by swapping out sweet snacks with fruit and fizzy drinks with sparkling water.
Michael explained: "I've asked Bianca to swap out sugar for a week and eat more fruit instead. That's because of new research that shows that eating more fibre can reduce our sugar cravings."
Later in the episode, the diet guru speaks to one of the scientists carrying out this research who told him about how fibrous foods can change our guts to help tackle cravings.
He spoke to Dr Evelyn Medawar, a researcher at Max Planck Institute in Germany, who has been looking into how swapping out sugar can impact our guts and brains.
Dr Medawar explained that sugar without fibre could lead to non-beneficial bacteria in the gut microbiomes and could also lead to an increased insulin resistance.
However, that isn't the case for fruit which have both fibre and sugar as the researcher explains: "If you eat one apple with the skin and all the fruit flesh we get all the benefits of feeding the gut microbiome because the fibre is in there."
She then spoke about a lab carrying out animal research which could explain why we crave sugar when we eat more non-fibrous sugary foods.
As Michael then explains, eating sugar without fibre attached may actually increase cravings to eat more sugary foods.
Dr Medawar went on to share a study that her institute had recently carried out in which overweight people were asked to take 30 grams of inulin, plant-derived source of fibre. Some were instead given a placebo for a point of comparison.
It was found that not only in terms of behaviour but also brain activities that those who had upped their intake of fibre had reduced cravings.
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