A thimble of fibre

Dr. Michael Lyon, 47, takes a pass on an artery-clogging lunch buffet in favour of a nicoise salad and orders a tomato juice, which ends up being the centrepiece of his meal.

Into the juice, Lyon dumps a thimble-size scoop of a super-fibre known as PGX, invented by researchers at the University of Toronto. He stirs the juice and waits until it thickens into a tomato paste so dense a spoon can stand up in it.

He chugs it down. By the time the fibre mixture expands in his stomach he is so full he can barely finish his salad. Lyon won't be hungry again until dinner.

A little thimbleful of the fibre, called PGX -- or polyglycoplex -- contains 2.5 grams of soluble fibre, which in itself is fairly remarkable. More remarkable, it can absorb six times its weight in water, greater than any other fibre or fibre blend ever studied.

With such huge absorption power, the 2.5 grams of fibre is the equivalent of 25 grams of another popular fibre, psyllium, or 75 grams of oat bran. You'd have to eat 15 bowls of oat bran in one sitting to get the same amount of fibre.

Lyon was combing through the medical literature when he noticed a discovery by the Risk Factor Modification Centre at St. Michael's Hospital, part of the University of Toronto.

This group had discovered that soluble fibre could regulate blood sugar, lower cholesterol and control appetite. The group wanted to develop a fibre with the greatest amount of water-absorbing potential in the smallest amount of fibre.

PGX is a blend that contains the ground-up tuber root of the amorphophalus konjac c. koch plant, used as a food and remedy for thousands of years in the Far East.

When the researchers combined konjac flour with other viscous ingredients they came up with their super-fibre.

The fibre can be stirred into a shake as a meal replacement, taken as capsules, sprinkled on food or stirred into soups or tomato juice. As a once-a-day meal replacement, it costs about $100 a month.

PGX was introduced last year at the American Diabetes Association's annual scientific meeting and hailed in the media as part of the search for dieters' Holy Grail.

Clinical trials involving hundreds of patients have shown that if taken daily, PGX can greatly reduce appetite, eliminate hypoglycemic cravings and promote efficient fat burning by diminishing insulin resistance, lowering insulin levels and normalizing appetite-regulating hormones.

The large volume of food creates a sense of fullness in the stomach and results in the release of the signalling hormone CCK, which alerts the brain that the person should stop eating.

In a recent study conducted in the Vancouver area, Lyon counselled 200 chronically obese people in sensible eating and exercise, and then encouraged them to take PGX twice a day.

"Almost everyone immediately noticed their cravings went away," he says. The average weight loss was one pound a week over 12 weeks, while dozens of obese people lost more than two pounds a week.

Lyon also has great hopes for obese people who have Type 2 diabetes or have developed insulin resistance. According to current Canadian food guidelines, healthy adults should consume at least 26 grams of fibre -- ideally 26 to 35 grams -- daily. But the present Canadian fibre intake only averages 4.5 to 11 grams a day.

Lyon says fibre is the missing ingredient in many people's diets. Some African tribes consume 100 grams of fibre a day and only 1,000 calories and have almost no cancers or other major health problems.

© The Edmonton Journal 2005