How to Eat the Foods You Like and Still Lose Weight - Eat Slower

04/01/07 With so many people resolving to lose weight during the new year, scientists have come up with a way that enables people to still eat the foods they like and lose weight. The key ingredient entails people eating slower and therefore reaching their "satiety factor" with less food.

A growing body of science confirms rapid eating is a root cause of excess caloric intake. The National Institutes of Health website agrees. "Changing the way you go about eating can make it easier to eat less without feeling deprived," the NIH website says. If you slow down, your brain gets the fullness message before you outpace your body's built in defense mechanism against overeating.

Research presented at the prestigious Obesity Society (NAASO) Annual Meeting in Boston by scientists at the University of Rhode Island correlated rapid eaters with consuming significantly more food than subjects who were made to eat slowly.

The study, entitled "Eating Rate and Satiation" by Kathleen Melanson and others, measured subjects of normal weight in two conditions. It found meal consumption among the rapid eating cohort was 3.5 times faster than the slower eating group. Meal weight and energy intake were significantly higher among the rapid eaters, the study concluded.

This study adds to the increasing body of research on weight loss, satiety and the ill effects of rapid food consumption that are tied to faster paced lifestyles and ever increasing waistlines.

The renowned Pennington Biomedical Center at Louisiana State University conducted a groundbreaking study on slower consumption and reduced food intake using a device fitted to the upper palate to decrease the capacity of the oral cavity. This research, published in 2004, showed that by physically decreasing the capacity of the oral cavity with the device, subjects took smaller bites, chewed more thoroughly, could not gulp food, savored the meal longer, and slowed intake until their satiety response was triggered.

The Pennington study was sponsored by Scientific Intake, the pioneering, Atlanta-based company with broad, international patents on non-invasive approaches to dietary restriction at the mouth instead of surgically at the stomach. The Pennington study results were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Obesity Research.

In the study, users of the Scientific Intake device reduced food intake by 23% over the control group (each group was instructed to eat until satisfied) and the slower eating device group did not feel hunger any sooner than the controls, who consumed significantly more food. Caloric intake was reduced by 533 kcal over three meals and no adverse events occurred. Non-device control group participants ate faster and consumed more food before feeling satisfied.

Scientific Intake is currently conducting a major clinical trial for submission to the Food and Drug Administration. If approved, the device would be the only non-invasive device indicated for the large population of overweight and mildly obese Americans who have not attained a Body Mass Index of 35 and above, the level required for surgery.

Other research on the link between eating slower and weight control includes:

- At the 2005 NASSO meeting, Rei Otsuka, et al presented eating rate data on 4,742 Japanese men and women spanning several years, showing rapid intake was tied to obesity (and slow intake was not).

- "Does Slower Eating Rate Reduce Food Intake?" by Don Williamson, et al at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center presented at NAASO in 2004 "suggests that a slower rate of eating results in less food intake compared to a faster, steady rate of eating."

- A study by S. Sasaki, et al, "Self Reported Rate of Eating Correlates With Body Mass Index in 18 Year-Old Japanese Women," was published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2003. It concluded that the rate of eating showed a significant and positive correlation with BMI.

- In 2004, "The French Paradox" published in Psychological Science (Rozin, et al) showed that smaller portion sizes and a much more leisurely eating rate helped explain the lower obesity rates found in that country.