IJsbrand Velzeboer: Sawdust, the new miracle ingredient

When we start to feel hungry, it is partly the hunger hormone ghrelin that draws us towards the snack bar. Once the stomach is full, the satiety hormone leptin helps keep us away from snacks. If you listen to this simple mechanism and act accordingly, you have found the secret to responsible weight loss, without resorting to the chemicals used in modern treatments such as Ozempic or Eli Lilly – whose long-term effects are unknown – that empty your wallet at high speed. There is another way.

The German army used the natural ingredient sawdust during the First World War. Hungry soldiers were served bread containing sawdust; the fibre in this hybrid bread kept their empty stomachs occupied for a while. After all, weight loss is also about keeping the stomach occupied without adding extra calories. The same thing happens if you drink a litre of water in one go: for a while, you no longer feel hungry. If, instead of water, you drink a few pints of beer, unfortunately the same does not apply. Alcohol actually stimulates the production of ghrelin. That also explains the urge to snack after a night out.

Sawdust consists mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, which are barely digested. These substances also bind moisture. Product developers may start salivating at that thought: why add complicated hydrocolloids such as starch or CMC if there is a cheaper option? Just make sure the sawdust is fine enough. It should not contain any troublesome splinters. Food legislation still allows it too, provided it does not come from a poisonous tree or shrub. Sawdust from rhododendron, boxwood or laburnum is probably best saved for the in-laws.

That leaves just one challenge: finding a creative name for the label. The rather blunt term ‘sawdust’ obviously will not do. Wood flour, perhaps? Forest powder? Or how about Lignum Pure Scobis? Whatever you call it, you will struggle to find a cheaper slimming aid. Someone with sawdust in their head – and/or stomach – may be more forward-thinking than you think!

IJsbrand Velzeboer

Curative food technologist