The Science of Slow Eating

By Editorial Staff

Avoiding choking is likely the primary rational behind the ubiquitous parental mandate for children to "chew your food." What parents and people of all ages might not realize is that slow eating also makes a big difference when it comes to weight loss.

Slow eating increases energy expenditure based on elevated temperature – "diet-induced thermogenesis" or DIT. But how? And is it slow eating or slow chewing that accounts for DIT? In pursuit of the answers, researchers designed a three-phase trial involving liquid food (which was used specifically to negate the possibility that food particle size was a factor). In phase one, volunteers swallowed the liquid food every 30 seconds at a normal rate. In phase two, volunteers retained the liquid food in their mouth for 30 seconds without chewing (allowing for oral stimuli - "tasting" the food). In phase three, volunteers chewed the liquid food for 30 seconds (one time per second) and then swallowed it.

So, what did the researchers discover? Energy production (DIT) increased after meal consumption in general, but it also increased depending on how long volunteers tasted the food and how long they chewed it. Since a liquid food was utilized, the size of the food being chewed was irrelevant; the act of chewing / eating slowly did the trick.

The study authors' take-home point is the most meaningful with regard to weight loss: "While the difference in energy expenditure per meal is small, the cumulative effect gathered during multiple meals, taken over every day and 365 days a year, is substantial." In other words, savor your meals - you won't just enjoy the meal more; you'll also be burning calories, slowly but surely. That's the science of slow eating!