Eating Slowly Helps Curb Appetite

Devouring a hamburger inside of ten seconds might be a good party trick, but eating too quickly may cause you to eat more, while taking it easy helps slow down your hunger.

New research in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism suggests speed-eating may block the body’s natural appetite-control system.

In the study, scientists pitted 17 men against some ice cream in two trials.

First, participants ate two servings of ice cream over 5 minutes. And later, the men were asked to eat ice cream over 30 minutes.

After the experiments, men did not have different feelings of fullness and hunger from one trial to another, but after eating slowly, participants showed higher blood levels of peptides—a type of hormone—that control hunger.

Both peptides signal the brain to cut appetite, and stop calorie intake.

Researchers say the findings have major implications for people who eat a lot of fast food, and provides more reason for people to slow down when they eat.

Via Reuters.

Image credit: Dr. Robyn Silverman