The latest diet advice: take smaller mouthfuls to feel full sooner
Tuesday 06 November 2012
Taking smaller mouthfuls of food improves the taste and leads to lower levels of consumption, food scientists at Wageningen University have found.
Tests with tomato soup showed that volunteers who used a small spoon ate up to 25% less than those using a large one.
The smaller mouthfuls were coupled with greater appreciation of the taste which plays an important role in triggering the feeling of having eaten enough, researcher Dieuwerke Bolhuis told the Volkskrant.
She suggests dieters not only watch the calorie content of their weekly shop, but also look at the speed at which they eat.
Slow food
For example, by drinking orange juice it is easy to consume 150 calories in a minute. But eating an orange takes three times as long. ‘Eating an orange takes longer and your brain gets more stimulus to process, leading you to feel fuller more quickly,’ Bolhuis said.
Dieters should also opt for hard bread rather than soft and yoghurt rather than yoghurt drinks, both of which take longer to eat.
Food science professor Martijn Katan told the Volkskrant the research is encouraging but that more research is necessary to test the long-term effects of eating smaller mouthfuls.
Will you be testing the 'small mouthful diet'? Have your say using the comment box below.
© DutchNews.nl
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No,I'll not be testing the smaller mouthful diet, but I will taking any studies produced by so-called scientists at Dutch research institutions with a healthy pinch of salt.
By Garry | 6 November 2012 5:01 PMI know too much salt is supposed be unhealthy, but taking these kinds of studies too seriously may indicate early-onset dementia.
No I will not be following their advice. I can't see anyone taking smaller mouthfuls except if you had you mouth wired. you tell a mother looking/feeding kids to eat slower or smaller bits...she would never get a meal eaten.
By dee | 6 November 2012 7:10 PMWhy have the scientists not mentioned anything about mastication? Many people do not chew 'the mouthful' well enough, therefore swallowing food that will partially not digest - wasted.)
'Also no mention concerning high fructose corn syrup that interferes with the stomach's signal to tell the brain that you are full. This substitute chemical sweetener is in soooo many products!
Okay, so from now on if we all eat just small mouthfuls of potato chips, cream cakes, donuts & cola, we will eat less & become more healthy? - okay, try eating with one chopstick in your 30 minute break, duh!
By The visitor | 7 November 2012 2:33 AMThis is not news! It is a known fact and one of the tips given to people who want to go on a diet. Research need not have been done to "establish" it.
By GGG | 7 November 2012 8:01 AMare we humans actually becoming dumber?? the concept that less is more and delaying gratification to enjoy all things more have been around for many many decades - now we suddenly need scientific research studies to tell us that!?!? HELP!
By Z | 7 November 2012 8:07 AMyes if you put less food in your little mouth you will consume less food - wow, amazing ;) this same holds true for consuming almost anything by the way. May God help us all.
Dutch trying to claim 'research' on a fact that the rest of the world - in touch with their health - already knew. If they didn't have these lightweight studies, they'd have to research something serious and meaningful.
Research this, guys: The dutch diet of cigarettes and energy drinks, plus the incredulous prices of already-rotting fruit/veg in major Dutch supermarktes, enables the Dutch autochtonen to stay thin in the face of 'tasty' foods being imported from across the world. Discuss...
By osita | 7 November 2012 6:41 PMOh come on. The French have followed this diet for hundreds of years. Do you see a lot of fat Frenchmen/or women? They take it granted that each meal takes at least 2 hours to eat and to digest. That's a whole lifestyle of slow food and healthy eating...you don't need a flimsy study with an American tomato soup to prove it right.
By outi.karttunen | 7 November 2012 10:16 PM