When digesting food, men are from Mars, women from Venus

A recent study reveals that men and women digest food differently and even their caloric values change for each one.

Imagine a man and a woman entering a clothing shop together and going on different floors for their clothes. Nothing unusual, you would say. Now imagine a man and woman entering a departmental store and going in different directions to find food categorised by gender, or imagine going to a restaurant and being given a menu based on whether you are a man or a woman.

The last two scenarios don't sound real but according to a study conducted recently by the scientists at the American Technion Society, men and women digest food differently and the knowledge of these differences can help tailor healthier food options based on genders. So, what you dismissed as just an imagination could be part of reality in future soon.

If medicines can be gender-specific, why not food?

After a recent research revealed that certain medications treat the genders differently and in fact some medications are more effective in treating specific genders while have different set of side effects too, the Technion scientists got thinking if food too could have similar effect on the genders, according to a report published on the official website of the Society.

"We thought, if this works for drugs, why not for food?" Associate Professor Uri Lesmes, head of the Lab of Food Chemistry and Bioactives and the Food and Health Innovation Center in the Technion Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering was quoted in the report.

Since there aren't enough studies that show what happens when the same food is given to equally healthy man and woman of the same age or does the food break down in such a scenario, the scientist with student Carolina Lajterer looked for these results.

How was the research conducted?

The scientists wanted to explore if dairy proteins (found in milk products) digested at the same rate in men and women and if they ended up with same byproducts in both the sexes. For the experiment, they chose key whey proteins found in nutritional bars and shakes, because of their nutritional importance and ability to affect energy intake and appetite.

According to the article on the website, they took two bioreactors that doubled up as simulated digestive systems. While one mimicked the human stomach, the other one recreated the small intestine. The bioreactors could be set to mimic the male and female sexes and were thus used to compare the results.

"In the morning, the systems could operate as a female. After her lunch break, Lajterer took the same food sample and same vessels but programmed the system to act as a male," said Prof. Lesmes, as per the report.

The Eureka moment

The results revealed that while most of the whey broke down similarly, there were specific differences in some regions based on the two genders. "To our surprise, these regions contain peptides that have been reported to influence the sense of satiety and fullness. So the same glass of milk might make a male feel fullness or hunger differently than a female."

What does this mean? "If we change the protein structures and/or compositions we can be more precise in what we eat, so maybe we can engineer foods in a more correct manner so people won't continue searching for unnecessary calories," Lesmes said.

What next?

These findings can bring about huge changes in the way food is eaten or recommended to people. Those looking for diet recommendations are majorly schooled about the nutritional requirements, dietary controls and the amount of food that should be consumed. So far, there is no different diet plan based on their genders.

However, the findings of this research clearly show that there can't be 'one size fits all' in the case of food. Also the research suggests that the caloric value of food also changes depending on who is consuming it.

Lajterer's research, conducted for her master's thesis, offered proof of concept that exploring gender-based food digestion is worth pursuing. Since their work with whey, the team has been experimenting with soy, eggs, and other proteins.

So, in the near future when people dine out, they might ask for something like 'one menu for women and two for men' before ordering the food.