MOLASSES EXTRACT HELPS IN REDUCING OBSITY

Molasses extract helps

In reducing obesity

  Supplementing your diet with a molasses extract could help you shed weight or reduce obesity, say researchers The study, conducted on mice by Richard Weisinger at the La Trobe University, Australia, investigated the impact of adding molasses extract to a high fat diet.Mice were given either an unaltered high fat diet, or the same diet supplemented with two percent or four percent molasses extract, according to a statement by the university.After 12 weeks on these diets, mice that consumed the diet containing four percent molasses extract had lower body weight, reduced body fat, and decreased blood levels of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells.

'The addition of molasses extract to a high fat diet appears to reduce body weight and body fat levels primarily through reduced caloric absorption,' said Weisinger.'Clinical trials scheduled next year will provide the opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of molasses extract for weight control in humans,' he added.Molasses extract is rich in polyphenols, a group of chemical compounds found in plants that are known for their antioxidant properties, believed to play a role in the prevention of cancer, coronary heart disease and even altitude sickness.These findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB) which started Tuesday(12-07-2011) at Florida, US.

      The English term molasses comes from the Portuguese melaço which in turn is derived from the Latin mel, meaning honey Melasus (sic) was first seen in print in 1582 in a Portuguese book heralding the conquest of the West Indies. Molasses was exported to the U.S. from the West Indies to make  rum High taxes were levied on molasses by the British via the Molasses Act of 1733, but the duties were so widely ignored by U.S. colonists that the taxes were reduced in 1764 in hopes more would comply. Up until the 1880's, molasses was the most popular sweetener in the United States, because it was much cheaper than refined sugar. It was considered particularly tasty with salt pork

After the end of World War I, refined sugar prices dropped drastically resulting in the migration of consumers from molasses to white sugar crystals. By 1919, U.S. per capita consumption of white sugar was twice what it was in 1880, with most Americans completely switching from molasses to granulated white and brown sugar. In January of 1919, a huge vat of molasses at the Purity Distilling Company in Boston exploded. What came to be known as the "Great Molasses Flood" killed 21 people and spilled two million gallons of molasses into the streets. Interestingly enough, molasses now costs about twice as much as refined sugar. Along with industrial alcohol and rum products, molasses can also be used to make yeast cure tobacco, and in cattle feed.

       Syrup remaining after sugar is crystallized out of cane or beet juice. Molasses syrup is separated from sugar crystals by means of centrifuging. Molasses is separated from the sugar crystals repeatedly during the manufacturing process, resulting in several different grades of molasses; that obtained from the first extraction contains more sugar, tastes sweeter, and is lighter in colour than molasses obtained at the second or third extractions. The third and final

extraction yields blackstrap molasses a heavy, viscous, dark-coloured product that has had all the sugar removed from it that can be separated practically by ordinary crystallization

                                                                       Prof. John Kurakar