Australians are stacking on a collective 6000 tonnes more lard every year ­ yet despite a worldwide hunt for a cure for obesity, no magic bullets have yet emerged.

However Dr Peter Clifton of CSIRO Human Nutrition believes there is much that the Australian food industry can do to contribute towards a leaner, healthier population by offering a wider array of foods which are heavy in fibre and water and light on calories.

"Every individual differs in their response to diet, so there is no single solution for the population as a whole to the problem of obesity," he says.

"However by making available a much greater range of foods which have low fat, high fibre and reduced energy content, the greater will be the likelihood that individuals can find what they need to prevent themselves becoming overweight.

Dr Clifton will address tomorrow's CSIRO Food Industry Conference Gut Health ­ Make It Your Business at Adelaide's Stamford Plaza Hotel on how the food industry can help combat the national epidemic of obesity, which has seen the average Australia gain between a fifth and a third of a kilo extra weight each year for the past decade.

The problem, says Dr Clifton, is that satiety ­ or feeling full after eating ­ is a very complex issue, still not well understood by science. A person can feel full after a moderate serving of a bland, watery, fibre-rich food such as boiled potato ­ but still feel peckish after devouring several times the calories in the form of croissants.

The feeling of a full stomach, or gastric distension, sends only a weakish signal to the brain to stop eating. If the food is delicious enough, most people will keep going.

The most potent appetite-killer is a hormone, cholecystokinin or CCK, which is released by fat into the duodenum and immediately instructs the stomach to slow down. But, says Dr Clifton, you can still eat far more fat than you need before the CCK swings into action.

"Part of the trouble is that we are designed by nature to consume large amounts of nutrients at one time ­ and store it for leaner times. Of course with modern food that is very palatable, there is a potential tendency to eat more than we need."

"If Australians simply graze constantly, their fat stores will get bigger and bigger by the year," he says.

Dr Clifton believes that while some very overweight individuals may need drug treatment or surgery, for the majority the answer lies in Australian inventiveness creating a wider diversity of the kinds of foods which help us to feel full without putting on weight.

More information:
Dr Peter Clifton, CSIRO Human Nutrition
Business hours: 08 8303 8826
mobile 0411104525
email: Peter.Clifton@dhn.csiro.au

Trisha Helbers, CSIRO Human Nutrition, Media Liaison
Business Hours: 08 8303 8870
email: trisha.helbers@dhn.csiro.au