Advertisement

Goodbye slimming pills? Why scientists think everyday foods like broccoli can fight obesity

The new pills use nutrients found in common foods, like broccoli and coconut oil - The Telegraph
The new pills use nutrients found in common foods, like broccoli and coconut oil - The Telegraph

Odetta Graves has tried virtually every form of weight loss strategy imaginable, to little avail. “I’ve always been on a diet: the cabbage soup diet, the Morning Banana diet, the Peanut Butter diet, Atkins, Weight Watchers, fasting – everything,” says Graves, 62, who is medically obese and lives with her partner in east London. But after putting on a stone over lockdown – “Covid weight, I call it” – she is currently the heaviest she has ever been.

Now, there is hope on her horizon. Graves took part earlier this year in a small but promising weight loss study at Queen Mary University of London, where she works in the IT department. In the trial, Graves and 19 other obese adults, each aged between 18 and 75, were given capsules containing a cocktail of nutrients designed to tame their appetites. The nutrients all came from natural ingredients found in common foods (broccoli, coconut oil, and perilla oil) – a key attraction for Graves, who has tried Orlistat, slimming pills, and other synthetic weight loss drugs, but found they brought unpleasant side-effects.

Lead researcher Dr Madusha Peiris says those nutrients were chosen because they contain medium-chain fatty acids, which are thought to trigger the colon into producing the powerful PYY hormone, which makes people feel full.

The trial was funded by Bowel Research UK, a new charity launched this month.

Graves was invited into the university on two separate days, four weeks apart. On day one, she was given 12 tablets and then an hour later served a huge breakfast of yoghurt, cinnamon cake, two slices of white toast, and boiled eggs. Later in the day, she was given another 12 tablets and served an equally substantial lunch. “In came this beautiful picture of McDonald's through the door, with full fat Coke, which is something else that I do love but I don't have it all the time. I thought, ‘This is the most marvellous diet I've ever been on’.”

Four weeks later, on day two, she was invited back to repeat the same process.

But on one of the two days she was given a series of placebo tablets – dummies that contained none of the broccoli, coconut oil, or perilla oil nutrients. The order was randomised and double-blind, meaning the researchers administering the capsules did not know whether they were placebos or the real thing.

Odetta Graves took part in a weight loss trial that had very promising results
Odetta Graves took part in a weight loss trial that had very promising results

Almost immediately, Graves noticed a difference. On day one, which she later discovered was the day she was given a placebo, she was able to polish off both meals with ease. Yet on day two, she quickly became full and left much of her food on her plate. “I felt slightly different; I didn't eat all the toast, and I didn't eat all the McDonald's.”

The results were equally promising for the other 19 participants, says Dr Peiris. “The volunteers ate significantly less when they received the active treatment, which is great. We control the food that is presented – everyone gets exactly the same amount of food each time.” Participants also had their blood tested every half hour; there were much higher levels of the PYY hormone circulating after they took the active treatment.

Dr Peiris is now moving onto a longer-term Phase Two trial, which will involve between 100 and 150 volunteers. If successful, she estimates that participants could lose as much as 13 per cent of their weight (in contrast, some of the synthetic weight loss drugs found on the high street promise a weight reduction of just five per cent, she says).

And, because the capsules used in the trial contain only natural food products, they should reach shop shelves much quicker than a synthetic drug would once approved. “Instead of spending 20 years doing efficacy and safety and toxicology with a synthetic drug, we're able to get something onto the market, hopefully much faster than that.”

The main issue is quantity. Because the capsules are made from natural ingredients, they have a much lower potency than a synthetic drug, meaning weight-watchers have to take them in much higher volumes. In the Phase One trial, Graves had to take as many as 12 capsules before each meal – a total of 24 in one day.

“Because we're using a natural ingredient, we can't just put it into one pill, because it's not as potent as a synthetic drug,” says Dr Peiris. "We’re working on it: at the moment we’re re-formulating capsules so we can ask people to take fewer capsules per day.

“I don't really see that many downsides. Obviously, it's not a miracle, there's no such thing. But if people can lose about 13 per cent of their weight, that's going from a Body Mass Index (BMI) of obese to a BMI of overweight, which reduces your chances of colon cancer by 20 times. That's a very significant saving for the NHS, and it saves lives.”