Chewing food wel helps weight loss

A new study has suggested that
chewing each mouthful of food for
longer might help you lose weight,
and also reduce the amount of
calories consumed during a meal.
The study showed that volunteers
who chewed each mouthful 40 times
ate 12 per cent less food than those
who chewed just 15 times.
It is thought that chewing for a long
time checks over-eating as the brain
is given more time to receive signals
from the stomach that it is full.
It also apparently lowers the levels
of ghrelin, a hormone that controls
hunger by circulating in the
digestive system.
Researchers at Harbin Medical
University in China carried out a
couple of experiments on 16 slim
men and 14 obese men in their late
teens or twenties.
In the first experiment, they tested
whether the obese men chewed their
food differently to their lean
competitors or not.
Each volunteer was treated to a pork
pie and captured by a secret camera
to notice the number of times they
chewed before swallowing.
The results showed that even though
the obese men chewed at the same
speed as the slim ones, they
swallowed their food in quicker time
than the leans.
In the second experiment, another
portion of pork pie was given to both
groups to chew 15 times before
swallowing, and then the exercise
was repeated but they were asked to
chew 40 times instead.
The study found that when
volunteers chewed for longer they
consumed 11.9 per cent fewer
calories, no matter if they were lean
or obese.
"Research indicates eating quickly,
gorging and binge eating have a
substantial effect on being
overweight," the Daily Mail quoted
the researchers as saying.
"Our results showed obese
participants chewed less and
ingested more quickly than lean
ones," they added.
Blood tests that were meted out 90
minutes after eating also found that
the levels of ghrelin was reduced
when the volunteers had chewed the
food 40 times rather than 15.
The findings were published in the
American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition.