Posted: June 16, 2008 03:38 PM PDT
Posted By Barbara Grijalva, KOLD News 13 Anchor
New research finds simply adding a sprinkle of this and a sprinkle of that to what you eat may actually help you lose weight.
Dolly Kiosea says she's finally winning her battle of the bulge.
Kiosea says, "I've lost 28 pounds since I've started."
And she's shedding the pounds eating all her favorite foods.
Kiosea says, "I'm eating fried chicken, macaroni and cheese. I love steak."
Kiosea says the secret's in sprinkles called SENSA®, developed by Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation.
Hirsch says, "What the sprinkles are is they're a unique blend of different sweet flavors and salty flavors, things like cheddar cheese, mocha, horseradish, strawberry."
The sprinkles are non-caloric and contain artificial and natural ingredients approved for use in food products.
You shake them on whatever you eat.
The salty ones on savory things, and the sweet ones on things such as yogurt, cereal with milk, and desserts.
If you try them right out of the container, you may taste the flavor, but once they're on your meal, that flavor disappears.
Dr. Hirsch says, "What we're doing is intensifying the smell and the taste of the food."
He says that helps suppress hunger and tricks the brain into feeling full.
Dr. Hirsch says, "It would induce something called sensory specific satiety. It makes your brain perceive that you've eaten more than you have and thus you eat less and lose weight."
Kiosea says her portion sizes have definitely slimmed down.
"I used to go out for sushi and I used to eat four or five rolls. Now I'm mostly just having one roll."
And she's not alone.
Dr. Hirsch just completed a peer reviewed clinical study of nearly 1,500 people who used the sprinkles on everything they ate without changing their diet or exercise routines.
He says, "We found an average weight loss over six months of 30-and-a-half pounds."
Elisa Zied is with the American Dietetic Association.
She has looked at the evidence and is intrigued.
But even if the sprinkles help you eat less, she wonders what happens if you stop sprinkling.
She says, "If you're not doing what you did to lose weight, probably you won't be able to keep the weight off. Most dieters start to gain weight back after six months."
Dr. Hirsch hasn't studied the long-term effects yet, however, he has heard from some study participants who stopped sprinkling, and they say they're keeping the weight off or continuing to lose more.
He says, "Our hope is that as people lost 20,30, 40 pounds, begin to feel better about themselves, would inadvertently get greater exercise and induce a greater snowball effect causing them to get further weight loss."
Kiosea hopes to lose at least another 20 pounds using her new favorite condiment.
Kiosea "I feel so good knowing that I finally found something that's really working for me."
SENSA® sprinkles are available online.
The company that makes them says it will go global with QVC in a few months.
The sprinkles are being marketed as a food product.
Officials who helped develop them say, since they are all made of ingredients that are, quote, "generally recognized as safe" by the Food and Drug Administration, no FDA involvement is necessary.
The FDA says, from what they see, the company is right.
Posted By Barbara Grijalva, KOLD News 13 Anchor
New research finds simply adding a sprinkle of this and a sprinkle of that to what you eat may actually help you lose weight.
Dolly Kiosea says she's finally winning her battle of the bulge.
Kiosea says, "I've lost 28 pounds since I've started."
And she's shedding the pounds eating all her favorite foods.
Kiosea says, "I'm eating fried chicken, macaroni and cheese. I love steak."
Kiosea says the secret's in sprinkles called SENSA®, developed by Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation.
Hirsch says, "What the sprinkles are is they're a unique blend of different sweet flavors and salty flavors, things like cheddar cheese, mocha, horseradish, strawberry."
The sprinkles are non-caloric and contain artificial and natural ingredients approved for use in food products.
You shake them on whatever you eat.
The salty ones on savory things, and the sweet ones on things such as yogurt, cereal with milk, and desserts.
If you try them right out of the container, you may taste the flavor, but once they're on your meal, that flavor disappears.
Dr. Hirsch says, "What we're doing is intensifying the smell and the taste of the food."
He says that helps suppress hunger and tricks the brain into feeling full.
Dr. Hirsch says, "It would induce something called sensory specific satiety. It makes your brain perceive that you've eaten more than you have and thus you eat less and lose weight."
Kiosea says her portion sizes have definitely slimmed down.
"I used to go out for sushi and I used to eat four or five rolls. Now I'm mostly just having one roll."
And she's not alone.
Dr. Hirsch just completed a peer reviewed clinical study of nearly 1,500 people who used the sprinkles on everything they ate without changing their diet or exercise routines.
He says, "We found an average weight loss over six months of 30-and-a-half pounds."
Elisa Zied is with the American Dietetic Association.
She has looked at the evidence and is intrigued.
But even if the sprinkles help you eat less, she wonders what happens if you stop sprinkling.
She says, "If you're not doing what you did to lose weight, probably you won't be able to keep the weight off. Most dieters start to gain weight back after six months."
Dr. Hirsch hasn't studied the long-term effects yet, however, he has heard from some study participants who stopped sprinkling, and they say they're keeping the weight off or continuing to lose more.
He says, "Our hope is that as people lost 20,30, 40 pounds, begin to feel better about themselves, would inadvertently get greater exercise and induce a greater snowball effect causing them to get further weight loss."
Kiosea hopes to lose at least another 20 pounds using her new favorite condiment.
Kiosea "I feel so good knowing that I finally found something that's really working for me."
SENSA® sprinkles are available online.
The company that makes them says it will go global with QVC in a few months.
The sprinkles are being marketed as a food product.
Officials who helped develop them say, since they are all made of ingredients that are, quote, "generally recognized as safe" by the Food and Drug Administration, no FDA involvement is necessary.
The FDA says, from what they see, the company is right.