More chewing helps eating less

The more a person chews their food, the fewer calories he or she consumes, a new Chinese study suggests.

Jie Li and colleagues at the Harbin Medical University in China found that research subjects who chewed their food 40 times per bite instead of 15 consumed approximately 12 percent fewer calories, the Daily Mail reported Friday.

The researchers observed 14 obese men and 16 slender men in order to study their chewing techniques.

At first, they fed the two groups equal portions of pork pie and monitored them secretly to note any differences between the groups’ eating techniques. Although chewing speed and the amount consumed per bite were similar, the latter group gulped down faster compared to the former.

In a follow-up test, each group was instructed to chew 15 times per bite with one pie, then to chew 40 times with another pie.

The results showed that the volunteers consumed 11.9 percent fewer calories when they chewed more, regardless of whether they were obese or slender.

In addition, Jie and his colleagues found a link between volunteers’ chewing amount and their blood levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates an individual's appetite. Levels of the hormone were much lower in volunteers who chewed more.

Professor Jie said the results show that eating faster can lead to weight gain and obesity.

The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.