Polytetrafluoroethylene Ingestion as a Way to Increase Food Volume and Hence Satiety Without Increasing Calorie Content - PMC
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J Diabetes Sci Technol<br>. 2016 Jan 24;10(4):971–976. doi: 10.1177/1932296815626726
Polytetrafluoroethylene Ingestion as a Way to Increase Food Volume and Hence Satiety Without Increasing Calorie Content
Rotem Naftalovich
Rotem Naftalovich, MD, MBA
1Department of Anesthesiology, Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, NJ, USA
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1,✉, Daniel Naftalovich
Daniel Naftalovich, BS
2Department of Medical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
3Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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2,3, Frank L Greenway
Frank L Greenway, MD
4Department of Pharmacology-based Clinical Trials, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
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1Department of Anesthesiology, Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, NJ, USA
2Department of Medical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
3Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
4Department of Pharmacology-based Clinical Trials, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
✉Rotem Naftalovich, MD, MBA, Department of Anesthesiology, Saint Barnabas Medical Center, 94 Old Short Hills Rd, Livingston, NJ 07039, USA. Email: rotem11@gmail.com
Collection date 2016 Jul.
© 2016 Diabetes Technology Society
PMC Copyright notice
PMCID: PMC4928218 PMID: 26810925
Abstract
Since satiety is largely due to stretch of the stomach and people tend to eat a consistent weight of food, increasing food volume and mass increases satiety. This can be achieved without increasing the calories of food by mixing food with a material that cannot be metabolized. Such a material should be inert, safe, resistant to stomach acid, lack taste, available in powder form, smooth, resistant to heat, and cost effective. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is an ideal substance for this purpose. It is a soft plastic that is widely considered to be the most inert material known and is extremely stable. Animal feeding trials showed that rats fed a diet of 25% PTFE for 90 days had no signs of toxicity and that the rats lost weight. This article publishes the data from these subchronic animal feeding trials, reviews the relevant available literature, and hypothesizes that increasing the volume of food by mixing the food with PTFE powder at a ratio of 3 parts food to 1 part PTFE by volume will substantially improve satiety and reduce caloric consumption in people.
Keywords: bulking agent, calorie free, obesity, polytetrafluoroethylene, PTFE, satiety
Civilization has zero calorie drinks but we have not yet made the leap into the realm of zero calorie foods. The first step toward achieving this goal is the ability to increase the volume of food without adding calories. The industry of calorie free flavor agents such as artificial sweeteners like “Sweet’N Low” utilizes the idea of molecules which the body cannot metabolize or break down. Similar to this concept is the ability to substantially add satisfying volume and mass to food without adding calories, which can be achieved by mixing polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), an extremely inert plastic, into food. This article reviews the safety of this proposed innovation by examining existing knowledge relevant to PTFE ingestion and provides a thorough presentation of the available information.
Discussion
Though human satiety is complex, a significant contributing factor is the stretch of the stomach due to volume and mass of ingested material (i.e., gastric distention). Since people tend to eat a consistent amount of food,1 artificially increasing food volume and mass in the stomach can yield increased satiety. This can be achieved without increasing caloric content by using a nonmetabolized volume bulking agent. Fiber is sometimes supplemented to the diet for this purpose, but the use of fiber causes soft bulky stools and is commercially limited because it alters the taste and texture of food. Sugar...