Eating quickly and until full trebles obesity risk

London, Oct 22 : A new study has revealed that the combination of eating quickly and eating until full trebles the risk of being overweight.

With the increased availability of inexpensive food in larger portions, fast food, and fewer families eating together and eating while distracted eating behaviours are changing, and this may be contributing to the obesity epidemic.

For the study, Professor Iso and colleagues recruited over three thousand Japanese men (1,122) and women (2,165) aged 30-69 between 2003 and 2006 to examine whether eating until full and speed of eating are associated with being overweight.

Participants were sent a diet history questionnaire about their eating habits including questions about eating until full and their speed of eating.

The researchers report that around half of the men and just over half of the women said they ate until they were full. And just under half of men and 36 percent of women said they ate quickly.

The group of participants who said they ate "until full and ate quickly" had a higher body mass index (BMI) and total energy intake than those who did not "eat until full and did not eat quickly".

The researchers also found that both men and women in the "eating until full and eating quickly" were three times more likely to be overweight than the participants from the "not eating until full and not eating quickly" group.

The researchers conclude that a combination of eating until full and eating quickly has "a supra-additive effect on overweight".

The study is published on bmj.com.

ANI