"For decades scientists, doctors and public health officials have battled to solve the obesity crisis. Now researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for a radical new approach: slashing people's calorie intake by feeding them Teflon. The left-field proposal was inspired by zero calorie drinks and envisaged food manufacturers blending powdered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) into their products in the hope it would sate people's hunger before quietly sliding out."
"I feel honoured, said Dr Rotem Naftalovich at Rutgers University in New Jersey, whose work on the Teflon diet landed the chemistry prize. After discussing the idea for a zero calorie filler with his brother David, the pair hit on Teflon as their favoured substance. Making their case in Obesity Technology, the researchers explained how PTFE could make up a quarter of our food by volume."
"Demis Hassabis: from video game designer to Nobel prize winner Researchers honoured on the night discovered that alcohol, in small doses at least, boosted people's foreign language skills; that cows disguised as zebras suffered fewer insect bites, and that people became more narcissistic after being told they were more intelligent than most, even when they weren't. Another prize went to a fastidious doctor who measured the growth of his nails for 35 years."
Researchers won an Ig Nobel prize for proposing powdered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as a zero-calorie filler to reduce calorie intake by occupying food volume and passing through undigested. The proposal was inspired by zero-calorie drinks and envisages manufacturers blending PTFE into products, potentially making up a quarter of food by volume. Dr Rotem Naftalovich experimented by making and eating Teflon-containing chocolate bars, while the US Food and Drug Administration showed little interest. The ceremony at Boston University featured Nobel laureates and paper planes. Other awardees studied alcohol and language learning, zebra-painted cows, narcissism, and long-term nail growth.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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