Why some oils make you feel full faster
Brain Perception of Different Oils on Appetite Regulation: An Anorectic Gene Expression Pattern in the Hypothalamus Dependent on the Vagus Nerve
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists gave rats different cooking oils and saw how they affected their tummies and brains. Olive oil made their stomachs stay full longer and told their brain to stop eating — but only if the stomach-brain nerve was working. Palm oil changed brain signals but didn’t make them eat less — unless that nerve was cut.
Surprising Findings
Cutting the vagus nerve made palm oil *more* effective at reducing food intake.
Common belief: the vagus nerve is essential for satiety. Cutting it should make you eat more. But here, removing it made palm oil suppress appetite—revealing a hidden, compensatory pathway.
Practical Takeaways
Replace processed cooking oils with extra virgin olive oil in meals to potentially enhance natural fullness signals via the vagus nerve.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists gave rats different cooking oils and saw how they affected their tummies and brains. Olive oil made their stomachs stay full longer and told their brain to stop eating — but only if the stomach-brain nerve was working. Palm oil changed brain signals but didn’t make them eat less — unless that nerve was cut.
Surprising Findings
Cutting the vagus nerve made palm oil *more* effective at reducing food intake.
Common belief: the vagus nerve is essential for satiety. Cutting it should make you eat more. But here, removing it made palm oil suppress appetite—revealing a hidden, compensatory pathway.
Practical Takeaways
Replace processed cooking oils with extra virgin olive oil in meals to potentially enhance natural fullness signals via the vagus nerve.
Publication
Journal
Nutrients
Year
2024
Authors
Gele de Carvalho Araújo Lopes, Brenda Caroline Rodrigues Miranda, João Orlando Piauilino Ferreira Lima, Jorddam Almondes Martins, Athanara Alves de Sousa, Taline Alves Nobre, J. Severo, Tiago Eugênio Oliveira da Silva, M. Afonso, Joana Darc Carola Correia Lima, E. M. de Matos Neto, Lucillia Rabelo de Oliveira Torres, D. Cintra, A. M. Lottenberg, M. Seelaender, Moisés Tolentino Bento da Silva, F. L. Torres–Leal
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Claims (5)
When rats eat soybean oil, their stomachs take longer to empty, and their brains send out hunger-signaling chemicals in a delayed way — so they don’t stop eating right away, even though their bodies are starting to react as if they should.
When rats eat palm oil, their stomachs hold onto the food longer after 3 hours, but they don’t eat more or less over the whole day — so fullness doesn’t seem to control how much they eat.
When rats eat extra virgin olive oil, their stomachs stay fuller longer and they eat less over the next day—this might be because their stomach stretches out, which tells their brain they’re not hungry.
In rats, cutting the vagus nerve (a brain-gut connection) stops olive oil from making them eat less, but makes palm oil make them eat even less than before — which is weird and surprising.
Giving rats palm oil quickly makes their brains send signals that usually make animals hungry, but even though those signals show up, the rats don’t end up eating more than usual.