Does Chewing Slowly Really Make You Eat Less?

By Sean Hashmi

I came across a very interesting article that I wanted to share with everyone about whether or not chewing slowly helps you eat less. The idea is that eating slowly enhances the taste and enjoyment of food, gives the feeling of being full faster, and allows people to feel satisfied with smaller amounts of food.

Some of you might not be aware, but the origin of this concept came about in 1962, when Ferester and colleagues noticed that obese people ate faster than lean people. Naturally, they made the conclusion that obese people would probably eat less if they were to eat slowly. This certainly seemed logical and quickly became a standard of just about every behavioral treatment program since then. In fact, this advice has even been printed on milk cartons for students in public school cafeterias.

So what could possibly be wrong with such a convincing argument?
Well I am glad you asked. First of all, the above concept assumes that the majority of obese people eat faster than lean people. Sorry, this is a highly debatable point and various studies have shown this NOT to be the case. Second, the concept asserts that eating slower will make you eat less. Okay, so for this point I want to point out a study by Spiegel et al.

Spiegel and colleagues looked at 18 participants. 9 were lean (average BMI 25) and 9 were obese (average BMI 32). They fed the participants bite sizes of tuna, turkey, and bagels, and used EMG (electromyography) to measure the rate of their jaw movements. Sounds just like a scene from a horror movie. What they found was that there were NO differences between the lean group compared to the obese group in terms of eating behavior, feeling full, or being satisfied with smaller amounts of food. When people took SMALLER bites, they simply ended up eating LONGER. So essentially they still ate the SAME amount of food.

Now I know there are many problems with this study. It’s too small, it’s not double-blinded, some of the measurements such as feeling full are very subjective. However, the take home point from this study is simple: if you want to eat less, cut the amount of food on your plate.

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