Food proteins and peptides in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis and food intake in rats

肥胖正在成为代价最高的公共健康问题，与其相关的代谢性疾病导致的死亡人数接近吸烟造成的死亡人数。在加拿大，肥胖及其相关疾病约占卫生保健预算的5%。在美国，这一估计接近10%。 显然，迫切需要了解食物和食物成分在调节食物摄入量方面的作用。我的长期兴趣一直是阐明食物蛋白质抑制饥饿和提供饱腹感的机制。在实验动物和人类身上的实验都表明，蛋白质比脂肪或碳水化合物更令人满足。近年来，高蛋白饮食的流行表明，许多人发现这一点在减肥饮食中是正确的。 蛋白质带来饱腹感的机制尚不清楚，而对这些机制的阐明是我研究的重点。具体地说，我想确定消化过程中释放的食物蛋白质和多肽如何将饱腹感信号从胃肠道提供给大脑。 这项研究的实际目标是利用我们对机制的理解来开发食品(功能食品和营养食品)，以帮助个人完整地减少卡路里并保持健康的体重。此外，我们将能够在选择增进饱腹感的食物方面提供更好的建议，我们或许能够开发出通过肠道间接刺激大脑饱腹感机制的药物，而不是使用直接影响大脑并因此产生许多不良副作用的药物。

Obesity is becoming the most costly public health problem with the number of deaths due to its associated metabolic diseases approaching the number of deaths attributed to smoking. Obesity and its associated diseases consume approximately 5% of the health care budget in Canada. In the US the estimate is close to 10%. Clearly there is an urgency to understand the role of food and food components in the regulation of food intake. My long-term interest has been in the elucidation of the mechanisms by which food proteins suppress hunger and provide feelings of satiety. Experiments in both experimental animals and humans have shown that protein is more satiating than fats or carbohydrates. In recent years the popularity of the high protein diets suggests that many people find this to be true for weight-loss diets. The mechanisms by which proteins bring about satiety are unknown, and the elucidation of these is the focus of my research. Specifically I want to determine how food proteins and the peptides released during digestion provide satiety signals from the gastrointestinal tract to the brain. The practical goal of this research is to use our understanding of mechanisms to formulate food products (functional foods and nutraceuticals) that will assist individuals to reduce calorie intact and to maintain healthy body weights. In addition we will be able to give better advice on the selection of foods that enhance satiety and we may be able to develop drugs that stimulate the brain satiety mechanisms indirectly via the gut, rather than use drugs that directly impact on the brain and thus have many untoward side effects.