Chewing food to avoid weight gain really works. Don’t drink your calories in coffee shop drinks, juices or smoothies. Eat real food and chew it thoroughly. That will help you avoid weight gain.
Chewing well helps in digestion. Chewing is also known to help prevent obesity, possibly by increasing the thermic effect of food consumption.
New Study Suggests Chewing Food to Avoid Weight Gain
A new study has revealed that oral stimuli, which are linked with the duration of tasting liquid food in the mouth, and the duration of chewing, play a positive role in increasing energy expenditure after food intake.
That chewing food well makes a healthy eating habit is age-old wisdom. Slow eating and thorough chewing help prevent obesity and weight gain. This is a view popularized a century back and tested afterward in sporadic scientific studies.
Typically, the chewing process reportedly enhances the energy expenditure associated with the metabolism of food and increases intestinal motility — all summing up to an increased heat generation in the body after food intake, and also enhanced blood circulation in the stomach.
How to Chewing Study was Conducted
• The study included three trials conducted on different days.
• In the control trial, they asked the volunteers to swallow 20-mL liquid test food normally every 30 seconds.
• In the second trial, the volunteers kept the same test food in their mouth for 30 seconds without chewing, thereby allowing prolonged tasting before swallowing.
• Lastly, in the third trial they studied the effect of both chewing and tasting; the volunteers chewed the 20-mL test food for 30 seconds at a frequency of once per second and then swallowed it.
• All relevant variables were measured before and after the test-drink consumption.
Results of the Chewing Study
The results of this well-designed study turned up to be quite insightful.
• There was no difference in hunger and fullness scores among the trials.
• However, the researchers found that energy production increased after consuming a meal, and it increased with the duration of each taste stimulation and the duration of chewing.
• This means that chewing well, by increasing energy expenditure, can indeed help prevent obesity and metabolic syndrome.
• The researchers concluded: “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.”
Backed by robust science, slow eating and thorough chewing could be the latest recommendations for integration into our weight management efforts.
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