Eating Too Fast Makes You Fat

Men who scarf their meals are 84% more likely to be obese; women even more so
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 22, 2008 12:52 PM CDT
Eating Too Fast Makes You Fat
People's quick eating habits are often formed early in childhood, scientists say.   (©hoyasmeg)

When your mom said to slow down and chew your food, she may have been more right than she knew: Speedy eating can double your risk of being overweight, according to a new study. Japanese scientists compared hundreds of food-savoring people to their sprinter counterparts, and found a striking correlation with weight, the BBC reports.

Filling your stomach quickly could interfere with the body's feedback system that tells you when you're full, a scientist suggests, simply by not letting the signals catch up to consumption. While wolfing down meals may once have had an evolutionary advantage—back in the hunter-gatherer times—today children should be taught to take more leisurely mealtimes.
(More eating stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X