Seaweed bread can help fight obesity

Eating seaweed bread can help make you feel fuller and reduce the amount you eat during the day, researchers say.

In a trial, men who ate seaweed bread for breakfast consumed 179 fewer calories during a day – equivalent to a half hour gym session.

Seaweed replicates the taste of salt in bread but contains far less sodium. A low-sodium diet reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Seaweed granules have a 3.5 per cent sodium level, compared with 40 per cent in salt, the Daily Mail reported.

Scientists from Sheffield Hallam University tested seaweed bread on nearly 80 healthy but overweight men aged 18 to 65.

They fed the men 3.5oz of normal bread made with salt one week and bread containing seaweed instead of salt the next.

The men were given toast and scrambled egg for breakfast and then given as many 14oz bowls of pasta and tomato-based sauce as they could eat.

Researchers from Sheffield’s Centre for Food Innovation monitored how much the men ate and measured their blood pressure, blood glucose and choles- terol levels.

The men also rated their hunger and fullness.

“This study shows that in the short term consumption of this bread reduces energy intake,” said lead researcher Anna Hall, a lecturer in nutrition at Sheffield Hallam University.

“In the long term this may contribute to weight loss or weight management. We hope to undertake long-term trials, which are needed in order to potentially produce such results,” she stated.

Dr Craig Rose, of the Seaweed Health Foundation, which supported the study, said: “Seaweed is natural, sustainable, organic and adds nutrition.”