For People with an APPETITE for LIFE!

Welcome to THE MAIN INGREDIENT a place where Food News, Food Politics, Food Culture, Food Fashion & Food Humour meet. Each week you can preview topical foodie matter from my 'Gourmet Lifestyle' radio show called (wait for it) THE MAIN INGREDIENT. Food for the belly & the brain, I hope you'll enjoy the journey with me. Regards Kel

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Appetite Suppressants for Babies????


News this week that British scientists are experimenting with adding the hormone ‘leptin’ to baby formula in the hope that it will stop children from over-eating in later life. (Scarey stuff huh?) Tests performed on rats have produced the desired hunger-suppressing effect, (note the words, hunger-suppressing) but so far their research on humans has been disappointing. Head of research Dr. Mike Cawthorne truly believes that if the new wonder milk formula is consumed for a short period early on in life, it will hard wire the body’s energy balance. Now I recently did a show taking a look at whether babies can be TOO fat. It turns out that some experts say YES, those adorable double chins can be too much. But appetite suppressants for babies? I love having an appetite! Of course I’ve had to learn to control it along the way (and boy has THAT been a long hard road) but I can’t imagine life without one. Critics of the new research say the notion of a wonder formula to prevent human obesity is currently in the realms of wildly optimistic science fiction, so I guess it will be some time before we see this product on our supermarket shelves. My little boy is definitely not obese and just about to turn 9, and YES I admit I look forward to that look of anticipation when he spots his birthday cake. How sad to go thru life ‘appetiteless’ (is there even such a word?) never really experiencing the joy and the journey that food can inspire. Are we humans becoming so stupid that our only option is to have no choice?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Too True!

Shudder to think what the future holds. We Loved the feature on Kitchen science on this weeks show. More of the same please.
Paul & Jenny Tapp