Eating too quickly can lead to overeating because the food we gobble up in a hurry limit the release of hormones in the intestine that trigger the feeling of fullness, according to Greek researchers found.
For the study, volunteers ate 300 milliliters of ice cream at different rates. Before and after the ice was measured levels of glucose, insulin and lipids in the blood and gut hormones. Participants who took 30 minutes to eat ice cream had the highest concentrations of intestinal peptide hormones like peptide YY and glycogen, also tended to feel more full than those who ate the ice cream in less time.
Previous research has shown that the release of these hormones after a meal tells the brain that the person is full, but this is the first study to examine the hobble in to eat at different rates affects the release of hormones.
“Most of us have heard that eating fast can lead to overeating and obesity, and indeed some observational studies support this idea,” said lead author Dr. Alexander Kokkinos, Laiko General Hospital in Athens in a press conference of the Endocrine Society. “Our study offers a possible explanation for the relationship between speed of eating and overeating to show that the rate at which you eat could impact the release of gut hormones that tell the brain to stop eating.”