SPREAD YOURSELF THINNER
For upper-crust fat loss, peanut butter and jam are the best things between sliced bread. Bring napkins
For fast fat loss, peanut butter and jam are the best things between sliced bread
The worthy fat-burning breakfast options that are championed by fitness influencers are almost uniformly joyless and timeconsuming. Another cold Tupperware of overnight oats does little to excite the taste buds, and knocking up a superfood frittata makes catching the 7.36am train tricky. Amazingly, researchers at the University of Georgia happened upon some lip-smacking science that suggests the peanut butter and jam sandwich is at the cutting edge of morning weight-loss fuel.
A test tube study found that the dynamic duo of fillings contain a cocktail of compounds that, together, stop fat cells in their tracks. The combination in question – that of resveratrol (found more readily in peanuts than in red wine, surprisingly) and the flavonol quercetin (crammed into strawberry jam) – caused body fat to waste away. Specifically, the combination blocked a sensor that nascent fat cells need in order to connect with fatty acids in the blood for continued growth. And it wasn’t just the growth phase that was disrupted, either – the mixture proved just as ruthless at taking out mature fat cells, too.
In addition, these spreads have myriad benefits in isolation. The quercetin in jam has also been linked with inhibiting the growth of cancer cells and reducing blood pressure, while the resveratrol in peanuts prompts your muscle cells to build more energy-producing mitochondria, which fire up your metabolism, even at rest. But to fight flab most effectively at breakfast, researchers suggest it’s the combination of both that creates a unique one-two gut punch to your paunch. Spread the news.