Researchers have been able to develop an ingredient that will make a person's stomach feel that it is full faster, presenting a new way for people to go about losing weight.

Obesity is a growing issue in the United States, with the National Institutes of Health stating that over one-third of the adults in the country can be considered obese. This issue is what researchers from the University of Glasgow and Imperial College London hope to address.

The team of researchers has developed inulin-propionate ester, or simply IPE, an ingredient that has proven its effectiveness in stopping people from gaining weight during early tests.

One of the components of IPE is propionate, a substance that is naturally produced when microbes ferment dietary fiber in a person's gut. Propionate causes the stimulation required for the body to release hormones that makes the brain think that the person is full.

IPE, however, provides people with more concentrated and much larger amounts of propionate than what can be normally acquired.

"Molecules like propionate stimulate the release of gut hormones that control appetite, but you need to eat huge amounts of fiber to achieve a strong effect. We wanted to find a more efficient way to deliver propionate to the gut," study author Gray Frost said.

Frost is also a professor at Imperial College London's Department of Medicine.

For the research, a total of 20 subjects were provided with 10 grams of either normal dietary fiber or IPE. The subjects were then allowed to eat as much as they wanted in a buffet.

The results revealed that the subjects provided with IPE ate 14 percent less compared to the subjects that were provided with normal dietary fiber, and featured higher concentrations of hormones that reduce appetite within their blood.

The research also included another study that lasted for 24 weeks, involving another batch of 60 subjects. Half of the subjects were asked to add 10 grams of IPE in powder form to a daily drink, and the other half only added normal dietary fiber.

At the end of the study period, none among the IPE batch gained significant weight, and were found to have less liver and abdominal fat compared to the normal dietary fiber batch.

According to Frost, the subjects that tested IPE reported no negative side effects. The next step would then be to test if adding IPE to food, such as smoothies and bread, would lead to the same positive results.

The findings of the research were published in the Gut journal, entitled "Effects of targeted delivery of propionate to the human colon on appetite regulation, body weight maintenance and adiposity in overweight adults."