When it comes to research, you can find everything around. There are laboratories all over the planet that investigate virtually every known element or material. Would you have bet something on the fact that the sand is also studied for its slimming properties?
And it is not a small thing. Clinical trials conducted in the past have already yielded promising results, but the weight reduction mechanism was unclear. Maybe that's why we haven't seen around anti obesity treatments “sand-based”.
How does “slimming” sand work?
To pinpoint key variables, the researchers tested a range of sizes and shapes of silica in simulating a human gut after a heavy meal. (I could lend him mine).
The surprising results support the idea that porous silica obtained from sand can "hinder digestive processes." In essence, activities usually triggered by enzymes that break down fats, cholesterol, starches and sugars in the stomach and intestines.
Obviously the size of the administered nanoparticles would determine the degree of inhibition of digestive activity.
Of course, the authors recognize that the simulation of an intestine does not have the same complexity as a human organ, but given the ethics necessary for clinical trials on humans and animals, it is better than nothing.
And then as a simulation it is one of the most advanced. It even takes into account the digestion of fats, that of carbohydrates and the degree of absorption of organic matter in the gastrointestinal tract.
What else do we know?
These new results offer an encouraging starting point for future research, 8 years after the first results on the topic, dated 2014.
That year researchers found that mice eating high-fat diets gained significantly less weight when fed porous silica nanoparticles (MSP). The percentage of total body fat also decreased. Even then, the larger the sand particles, the more important the effect.
6 years later, clinical data arrived on 10 healthy people suffering from obesity. First, prudent administrations showed a reduction of glucose and cholesterol in the blood, important metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors.
Of note, the treatment did not cause any abdominal discomfort or changes in bowel habits, which cannot be said of current weight gain medications.
The latest study
Using the collected data and feeding it into a simulator, the researchers compared it to a series of 13 porous silica samples of various widths, absorption potentials, shapes, sizes and surface chemistry. What sand is right for us?
In the study published in Pharmaceutics (I link it here), the samples that seemed to inhibit the enzymes better were porous silica microparticles with pores ranging from 6 to 10 nanometers wide.
But it's not that simple: Optimally sized pores to inhibit starch digestion, for example, are too large to optimally trap enzymes associated with fat digestion.
Further research in animal models will be needed to optimize these results. After that, perhaps, the proposed mechanism can be validated in human clinical studies.
Until then, I recommend: no sand after meals.
