The need to standardize ad libitum eating protocols in dietary fibre appetite research

Abstract

Since more than 1.9 billion adults worldwide are overweight, of which 600 million are obese,1 it is of vital importance to identify treatment strategies to help overweight and obese patients to lose weight and to improve long-term health. From a nutrition perspective, research has focussed on increasing the satiating power of the diet so that individuals feel full with fewer calories. A potentially effective class of functional foods, modulating appetite and food intake in such ways, is dietary fibre. However, although emerging evidence highlights the positive effects of dietary fibre on appetite and body weight, the methodological approaches are not always consistent and give rise to many uncertainties.