High calorie intake causes stress on our bodies. Extraordinary intake of foods high in fats and sugars can increase risk factors for Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancers as well as obesity. An epidemic in the United States and a major cause of death, obesity costs this country about $150 billion a year or almost 10 percent of the national medical budget.

Approximately 1 in 3 adults and 1 in 6 children is obese. There is no single or simple solution to the obesity epidemic, but there are things each of us can do to be healthier.

For starters, we can eat more fruits and vegetables and fewer foods that are higher in fat and sugar. But what about those cravings for chocolate, cake and pizza? Researchers at the Imperial College London in the United Kingdom have developed a supplement that can reportedly switch off cravings for high-calorie foods while leaving the healthy appetite unaffected.

Twenty volunteers were asked to consume a milkshake that either contained an ingredient called inulin-propionate ester or one that contained a type of fiber called inulin. Previous studies have shown bacteria in the gut release a compound called propionate when they digest the fiber inulin, which can signal to the brain to reduce appetite. However, the inulin-propionate ester supplement releases much more propionate in the intestines than inulin alone.

After giving the volunteers either a milkshake containing 10 grams of regular inulin — which acted as the control — or 10 grams of inulin propionate ester, researchers had them lie in an MRI scanner while they were shown various pictures of low- or high-calorie foods, such as salad and fish, or chocolate and cake.

The study revealed that volunteers who drank the inulin-propionate ester supplement had less activity in the reward regions of their brain — the caudate and the nucleus accumbens — than the control group, but only when they looked at the high-calorie foods. These brain regions are linked to food cravings, so this suggests the participants were craving the unhealthy choices less. This was backed up by the fact that the volunteers reported finding the high-calorie options less appealing, too.

In the second part of the study, the scientists gave the participants a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and told them to eat as much as they liked. Those who drank the inulin-propionate ester ate 10 percent less pasta than those who had drunk inulin alone.

Bottom line, the results suggest the supplement could not only help people crave less junk food, but also eat fewer calories.

According to Professor Gary Frost, senior author of the study from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College, their previous findings showed people who ate this ingredient gained less weight, but researchers didn't know why. This study fills in a missing piece of the puzzle, showing this supplement can decrease activity in brain areas associated with food reward at the same time as the supplement reduces the amount of food they eat.

Claire Byrne, a Ph.D. researcher from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College, explained that using inulin-propionate ester as a food ingredient may help prevent weight gain. Adding this supplement to foods could reduce the urge to consume high-calorie foods. Some of us may have gut bacteria that naturally produces more propionate than others, which may be why some people seem more naturally predisposed to gain weight.

Dr. Douglas Morrison, an author of the paper from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre at the University of Glasgow, commented that this study illustrates nicely that signals produced by the gut microbiota are important for appetite regulation and food choice. This study also sheds new light on how diet, the gut microbiome and health are inextricably linked, adding to our understanding of how feeding our gut microbes with dietary fiber is important for healthy living.

This is a small study, so researchers need to replicate their results and investigate the link between cravings and inulin-propionate ester further, but they're already looking into ways the adding supplement to foods could benefit society by reducing the urge to consume high-calorie foods.