Eat Quickly or Slowly? One Method to Reduce Hunger

Should you eat quickly or slowly? As obesity rates rise in the United States, more and more people are trying to find out ways to keep off the pounds. Now, scientists have found that eating quickly may impair our relationship between our sensory signals and processes that regulate exactly how much we eat.

In order to find out a little bit more about the relationship between eating speed and energy intake, the scientists examined how eating speed affects calories consumed during a meal in both normal weight subjects and overweight or obese subjects. They also looked at feelings of hunger and fullness before and after the fast-paced and slow-paced meals and water consumption during the meals.

While previous studies have looked at the relationship between eating speed and body weight, most of them were conducted with normal-weight individuals. In this case, the scientists found that only normal-weight individuals had a statistically significant reduction in caloric consumption during the slow compared to the fast meal. There was 88 kcal less consumed for the normal weight groups as opposed to the 58 kcal less for the overweight or obese group.

"Slowing the speed of eating led to a significant reduction in energy intake in the normal-weight group, but not in the overweight or obese group," said Meena Shah, one of the researchers, in a news release. "A lack of statistical significance in the overweight and obese group may be partly due to the fat that they consumed less food during both eating conditions compared to the normal-weight subjects. It is possible that the overweight and obese subjects felt more self-conscious, and thus ate less during the study."

While there were differences in caloric consumption, though, both groups that ate slowly felt less hungry later on. This indicates greater hunger suppression as long as you eat slowly. In addition, both groups that ate slowly also drank more water during the meal.

The findings reveal that slowly the speed of eating may help lower calorie intake and could suppress hunger levels. This, in turn, shows how changing one simple action could help reduce the tide of obesity within the United States.

The findings are published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.