The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in the population is widely recognized as a global public health challenge. Since eating behaviors emerge and are established in early life and may persist into adulthood, understanding potentially modifiable eating behaviors that influence excess weight gain may help in the development of intervention strategies to tackle obesity.
A recent meta-analysis of studies among adults clearly showed that eating quickly was associated with increased body mass index (BMI) and a higher prevalence of obesity. So chewing one’s food well can be an effective and easy way to reduce food intake and contribute to a lower risk of obesity.
Here, using studies data, we examined the hypothesis that does Eating Slowly Help to Lose Weight?
According to studies, people with obesity tend to chew their food less than lean people do, even when they eat the same thing and take bites of the same size. When the research team asked everyone to chew each bite 40 times, the lean and obese people in the study both ate less. When they chewed their food a little more than usual, their levels of gut hormones related to hunger and satiety also improved.
Another study tracked a group of people for eight years and found that those who ate slowly gained less weight during the study period than fast eaters. On the other hand, fast eating has been linked to a 35% increase in a person’s risk for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of health problems that include high blood pressure and blood sugar, cholesterol, and excess abdominal fat.
Also, research suggested that eating slowly increases the levels of gut hormones responsible for feeling full, which may help reduce calorie intake.
In one study, the team found a connection between the amount of chewing and levels of several hormones that “tell the brain when to begin to eat and when to stop eating.” More chewing was associated with lower blood levels of ghrelin. This hormone stimulates appetite and higher levels of CCK; a hormone believed to reduce appetite.
Many studies suggest that chewing well and eating slowly might be an effective way for healthy weight management among overweight and obese populations.
Evidence currently suggests that chewing well and eating slowly may decrease self-reported hunger and food intake, possibly through alterations in gut hormone responses related to satiety. Also, recent studies showed that Eating quickly is positively associated with excess body weight.
Obesity does not necessarily mean eating a lot of food because a set of factors leads to obesity over time. To solve this problem, you must identify these factors and reach the appropriate weight by solving them. Therefore, it is necessary to identify these factors in SMART Health Journey.
“This is not a diet; this is a lifestyle change.”
References:
https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo201596
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938415300317
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6356605/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24215801/
