NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Bread enriched with seeds from the lupin plant can help people feel more full and eat less, Australian researchers report.“These results suggest that protein and fibre enrichment of bread with lupin kernel flour has the potential to influence appetite and reduce energy intake, at least in the short term,” Dr. Ya P. Lee of the University of Western Australia in Perth and colleagues write.

Lupin is the name for a family of plants that includes the Texas bluebonnet. In the current study, Lee and others investigated bread enriched with lupin kernel flour (LKF), which contains up to 45 percent protein and 30 percent fibre, with little sugar and starch. In the first part of the study, 16 people ate either white bread or bread enriched with LKF in various combinations (lupin flour bread for breakfast and white bread for lunch or vice versa, or white bread for breakfast and lunch or LKF bread for both meals), each one week apart. Study participants rated both types of bread to be equally palatable.