Fast eater are prone to obesity

LONDON – People who eat hastily till feel full, have more chances to be overweight, a problem added by the penetration of fast food, Japanese researchers said.

Eating styles, alone, can contribute to an obesity epidemic fueled by the spread of Western-style, spreading all over the world. The findings, published in the British Medical Journal.

According to the WHO, around 400 million people are obese, among them 20 million are under the age of five. The condition raises the risk of diseases, like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

For study purpose, Hiroyasu Iso at Osaka University asked 3,000 Japanese volunteers aged 30 – 69 about their eating habit. Half of the men and almost half of the women said they ate until full. About 45 percent men and 36 percent women ate quickly.

Those who ate until full and ate rapidly were three times more prone to be fat than those belongs to “not eating until full and not eating quickly” group, the researchers found.

They blame causes such as, availability of cheap food and habits of eating while watching television.

To neutralize the “supra-additive effect” of speedy and surplus eating among children likely to be obese, parents should encourage them to eat slowly and in calm surroundings, the study found.