WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) — People who eat quickly and until they’re full are three times more likely to be overweight than others, a Japanese study says.
For the research, 1,122 men and 2,165 women, ages 30 to 69, filled out a diet history questionnaire about their eating habits, which revealed that 50.9 percent of men and 58.4 percent of women said they ate until they were full, while 45.6 percent of men and 36 percent of women said they ate quickly.
Those who said they ate quickly and until they were full had a higher body mass index (BMI) and total energy intake, and were three times more likely to be overweight than those who didn’t eat until they were full and didn’t eat quickly.
The study, published online Oct. 22 in the British Medical Journal, shows that eating quickly and until full has “a supra-additive effect on overweight,” concluded Professor Hiroyasu Iso, of Osaka University, and colleagues.
Until recently, most adults didn’t have the opportunity to consume enough energy to enable the body to store fat, according to background information in the study. But eating behaviors have changed due to increased availability of inexpensive food in larger portions, fast food, fewer families eating together, and eating while distracted (such as watching TV).
The study findings illustrate how current eating patterns in many nations may play a role in the epidemic of obesity, Elizabeth Denney-Wilson, of the University of New South Wales, and Karen Campbell, of Deakin University, both in Australia, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
They said doctors need to work with parents to encourage healthy eating habits in children, such as eating slowly, serving appropriate portion sizes, and eating as a family in a non-distracting environment.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about factors that contribute to overweight and obesity.
— Robert Preidt
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, news release, Oct. 22, 2008
Last Updated: Oct. 22, 2008
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Comments (4)
This is lie, I am really skinny and I eat really fast. I heard that it is good for your health to chew more and eat slowly, but being overweight is nothing to do with it.
I know I eat too quickly and I know where I picked up this nasty habit. It was because of school even though I had 40 minutes for lunch it could take up to 30 minutes just to get my meal sometimes from the lunch line leaving my only 10 minutes to quickly eat my meal. On top of that some schools have chopped the time to 20 minutes for lunch. No wonder every one is eating to quickly if they never get enough time to eat
-John,
you may just be lucky and have a high metabolism. Its not the lack of chewing however that causes some one to be over weight. By eating fast you fill you stomach quicker than your brain tells you your full. So two slices of pizza may have been enough but you’ve eaten so quickly your brain hasn’t had time to tell you that so you eat more.
I always thought that you can eat faster than your body’s “full” mechanism could tell you that you’re full.
So when you eat fast, you tend to over-eat because you don’t realize that you’re full! And then you realize it and then your tummy hurts :)