Fat substitutes ‘can cause weight gain’

Fat substitutes that are used in low-calorie crisps and other foods do not always help people to lose weight fast, a study has shown.

The research was carried out by Purdue University and has been published in the American Psychological Association's journal Behavioral Neuroscience.

"Our research showed that fat substitutes can interfere with the body's ability to regulate food intake, which can lead to inefficient use of calories and weight gain," said the study's lead researcher Dr Susan Swithers, a psychology professor at Purdue University.

In the study, rats were fed either a low-fat or high-fat diet and were then split into two groups, one of the groups was also fed high-calorie crisps and the other group was also fed high-calorie crisps on some days and low-calorie crisps on another.

The rats that ate both types of crisps consumed more food, gained more weight and developed more fatty tissue than the rats that ate only the high-calorie chips.

Last year, scientists from the Miriam Hospital on Rhode Island in the US revealed that breast cancer survivors who consumed lots of olive oil achieved greater weight loss than those who followed a more traditional low-fat diet.

Do you eat lots of low-fat crisps?