Ole Martin Kristiansen | September 4, 2018
This month’s research review has some interesting news from the world of nanocellulose. We have referred to a lot of interesting functionalities from this exciting material before, ranging from 3D printing to super reinforcer and rheology additives. Today, we are giving you the news of an interesting, and, I must admit, slightly unforeseen idea. It was uncovered in Asia. Dig in to this week’s blog post from the Exilva blog to read more.
Nanyang researchers find nanocellulose to block uptake of fat(!)
Researchers at the Nanyang university has found an interesting effect from nanofibers; they seem to block fat uptake. They believe that fat absorption could be reduced with as much as 48%. The tests were conducted in controlled studies where the scientists were feeding rats with heavy fat cream. In one of the tests they fed pure heavy fat cream, in the other they fed the rats with heavy fat cream containing nanocellulose. The authors of the study found how nanocellulose can bind and trap triglycerides.
It seems like the body and its enzymes will have problems breaking down the nanocellulose and thus the “trapped” triglycerides, thus not enabling it to absorb the triglycerides and convert them to fat. The study was published in ACS Nano earlier this year and is jointly filed by the Nanyang Technical University and Harvard.
Rat running for nanocellulose. Source: Giphy.com
The amount of nanocellulose used in the trials were 1:100, which means 1 mg of nanocellulose to 100 mg of heavy fat cream. The authors believe that these finding enforce the thought of high fibre diets being good for health. They also believe that the nanocellulose can be used as a food additive or dietary supplement to secure lower fat uptake from the food to the body.
