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The claim is that gelatin taken before eating forms a gel that reduces food intake leading to weight loss.

The gelling process never occurs in the stomach, and clinical studies show no evidence of weight loss.

As a scientist who studies the impact of nutrition on the brain and general health, I try to stay up to date on popular diets. One of my students pointed me in the direction of claims in Facebook groups and popular wellness communities online that a common diet ingredient, gelatin, can help reduce body weight. It’s called "the overnight gelatin habit." Proponents claim that it’s a simple daily ritual to calm hunger signals that doesn’t require prescriptions, food tracking, or exercise.

That's an amazing claim, but things that sound too good to be true usually are.

We are all familiar with the popular food Jell-O. The name is clever because it is a play on “gelatin,” the peptide that turns flavored water into a jelly. Today pseudoscience influencers are pushing the message that a tablespoon of gelatin, the precursor to Jell-O, if taken a half-hour before eating, will leave no room........

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