Regulating Appetite by Targeting Nutrient Delivery in the Gut

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The prevalence of obesity has risen rapidly and robustly in the past fifty years due to the easy availability of energy dense foods in a sedentary environment. Targeting the body's appetite-regulating systems to control calorie intake is a novel and consumer friendly approach to weight management. A promising approach is to deliver specific nutrients to the specific site in the gastrointestinal tract where they trigger nutrient sensing circuits which in turn signal to the brain to reduce food intake. We have shown that this gut-brain axis can be manipulated to reduce subsequent food intake. This project aims to demonstrate "molecule to product" capability and examine the potential market for health claims from this and prior work. The evidence generated in the current BBSRC study will support a health claim, and the potential to market satiating products with scientifically proven effects represents a significant commercial opportunity which we wish to develop with Follow-on-Funding.