The Link Between Eating Speed and Belly Fat
Were you ever told as a kid to slow down! when you were eating? Turns out it might not have been just for the sake of better manners, it also impacts your likelihood of developing excess belly fat.
The body needs some level of fat to function properly, and the type and location of fat matters in both optimal body function and overall health.
Three Kinds of Fat
White fat cells store energy and produce certain hormones that regulate energy and glucose levels. Brown fat cells burn energy, help produce heat, improve metabolism, and reduce the risk of a range of chronic illnesses. It’s not surprising, then, that people with a higher percentage of brown fat cells tend to be leaner and healthier. White fat cells can even transform into beige fat cells and act like brown fat when it comes to burning energy and producing heat.
Fat is Like Real Estate – Location Matters
Subcutaneous fat is located just under the skin and is the most abundant, but it acts differently depending on where in the body it’s located. Subcutaneous fat found in the lower body is believed to protect against a range of diseases. But if it’s located in the belly it produces more fatty acids that can increase the risks of metabolic diseases and insulin resistance.
Visceral fat is stored deep inside the belly and around internal organs such as the intestines and kidneys. People with too much visceral fat are at increased risk for heart and cardiovascular diseases, cancer and dementia and death from these diseases, even when they have an otherwise normal body mass index (BMI).
Doctors typically check how much visceral fat you have by measuring your waist circumference. This helps them determine your risk of developing heart disease.
Research shows that people who eat too quickly are more likely to gain weight and have a higher BMI
Research shows that people who eat too quickly are more likely to gain weight and have a higher BMI. But previous studies only focused on how eating speed relates to overall obesity, and not specifically to the buildup of visceral fat. This changed with a new study from Yamagata University in Japan, which indicates that eating slowly could prevent visceral fat accumulation in men with normal BMI.
Men often have more belly fat than pre-menopausal women because of hormone and lifestyle differences. As men age, their testosterone levels drop, which can lead to more fat around the belly. Also, men tend to gravitate more toward unhealthy foods, higher alcohol consumption, and smoking, all of which can add to the problem.
This study helps us understand how eating speed affects the buildup of visceral fat in people with a normal BMI, taking into account their eating and lifestyle habits.
Eating Slowly Helps Prevent Visceral Fat Accumulation
The researchers behind this study recruited male and female participants from a larger research project carried out in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. They included 6,548 individuals aged 40 to 74 who underwent annual health checkups. All participants fell within a normal weight range according to their BMI.
During these checkups, the participants underwent body weight, height, and waist circumference measurements. The researchers used these metrics to calculate their BMI and to determine if they had accumulated visceral fat. The waist circumference shouldn’t exceed 85 cm for men, and for women, it shouldn’t exceed 90 cm.
To assess how fast people eat, the researchers had the participants fill out a questionnaire asking, “How fast is your eating speed compared with other people?” They had to pick from three options: slow, normal, or fast.
Additionally, participants were asked to keep a food diary so that researchers could get a clearer picture of their eating habits, including what foods and drinks they consumed and how often. Participants were also asked about their daily physical activity levels, snacking and smoking habits, and menstrual cycles.
There were some differences between men and women in terms of body composition, eating, and lifestyle habits. For instance, more men had abdominal obesity (large waist size) than women, were slow eaters and skipped breakfast. However, the men were less likely to snack between meals than the women. And while men were more physically active than women, they also smoked more.
Men who reported eating fast were younger, taller, had higher weight, BMI, and waist circumference than those with normal eating speed. Conversely, the slow eaters were older, shorter, thinner, and had smaller BMI and waist circumference than those with normal eating speed. The proportion of men with waist circumference ≥85 cm was lower among slow eaters.
Similar relationships were seen in women regarding their body composition and how quickly they eat, however there were no variations in waist size based on eating speed.
In general, men made less healthy dietary choices than women, consuming more energy, carbohydrates, and alcohol, and the women consumed higher amounts of other nutrients.
The speed at which people ate didn’t affect the amount of energy consumed by both men and women. However, it affected the type of nutrients consumed. In men, slow eaters eat more protein, fat, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), omega-3 PUFA, fiber, soybean products, fish, vegetables, mushrooms, and seaweed than normal speed eaters. In women, fast eaters consumed less omega-6 PUFA than normal speed eaters.
Men who ate slowly had lower chances of having a bigger waist size than those who ate at a normal speed. But for women, how fast they ate didn’t seem to have a big impact on whether they had a larger waist size or not.
Slow Down with Mindful Eating
Many of us gobble down our meals while working, watching TV, texting, or rushing off somewhere. But this might not be a good idea as it leads to gaining weight and storing fat around the belly.
Here’s what happens: when you eat, your stomach fills up and signals are triggered to tell your brain that you’re full. As food moves from your stomach to your small intestine, hormones are released and more signals of fullness are sent to your brain. But this whole process takes about 20 minutes, so if you finish your meal in less time than that (or much less than that!), your body’s regulation system is disrupted and it becomes easier to overeat. So if you’re a habitual speed eater, you may also be a habitual overeater.
So how can you slow down?
Try mindful eating, which means paying full attention to your food as you eat. Here are some tips on how to do it:
- Eat in a calm and quiet place.
- Eat at the kitchen or dining room table.
- Take at least 20 minutes to finish your meal.
- Cut out distractions like cell phones, TVs, computers, and reading materials.
- Focus only on the food in your mouth.
- Put your fork down between bites.
- Chew your food thoroughly.
- Eat when you’re truly hungry, and stop when you’re satisfied.
Slowing down and practicing mindful eating can help you make healthier choices and improve your relationship with food. This can ultimately benefit your health, so it’s worth giving it a try.
