What's more filling--carbs, protein or fats?

saschka7

Just curious...I see so many conflicting viewpoints on what foods--that are healthy--will fill a person up best. Some say carbs, some say protein, and some say fats.

[Well yeah, a small pepperoni pizza will fill me up just fine but it's not healthy to eat an entire pizza in one sitting, especially if it knocks me into sleepy-mode and naptime afterwards.]

I eat 3 small meals and 3 snacks daily (I tend to have low blood sugar sometimes and will get shaky and ill-tempered). But honestly, while I eat frequently enough to keep hunger away, it's usually not a lot at one sitting and every once in a while, a person just wants to eat until they are comfortably full. Not gut-busting full, not straining-the-button-on-one's-pants full.....just pleasantly sated.

Is there even a real fact-based answer to this, or does it just vary from person to person, possibly? Thanks!

yarwell

someone tried to figure it out at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3212049

"In conclusion, differential effects of the preloads were observed in subjective ratings of hunger, fullness, preferences and subsequent food intake, but there was no indication that satiety was macronutrient-specific."

"Ratings of hunger decreased and fullness increased following the high starch and high protein preloads to a greater extent than after the high fat, high sucrose and mixed content preloads." - after eating a preload of carbs or proteins the subjects were less likely to load up on high carb, high fat or high energy intake at the subsequent meal 2 hours later.

More recently, journals.cambridge.org/article_S0029665112001310 said that

"It has been proposed that there is a macronutrient satiety hierarchy(1) with protein being more satiating than carbohydrate which in turn is more satiating than fat. There is also a broad consensus that the energy density (ED) of foods affects energy intake (EI) and satiety(2)"

but went on to find that "only protein consumed at a dose of 765 kJ in a volume of 235 ml at an ED of 6.4 kJ/g may exert a weak effect on hunger but not on EI. At such dosages and volumes the macronutrient satiety hierarchy was not demonstrated."

So it's as clear as mud.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Protein > fats > carbs