Chewing well helps in digestion. Chewing is also known to help prevent obesity, possibly by increasing the thermic effect of food consumption. But the

Chewing to Stay Slim: How to Savor Your Food Better and Dodge Weight Gain, too! – Waseda University

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2022-01-15 08:00:05

Chewing well helps in digestion. Chewing is also known to help prevent obesity, possibly by increasing the thermic effect of food consumption. But the factors behind this heat-generating effect of chewing remain less explored. A new study has revealed that oral stimuli, which are linked with the duration of tasting liquid food in the mouth, and the duration of chewing, play a positive role in increasing energy expenditure after food intake.

That chewing food well makes a healthy eating habit is age-old wisdom. Slow eating and thorough chewing help prevent obesity and weight gain—a view popularized a century back and tested afterward in sporadic scientific studies. Typically, the chewing process reportedly enhances the energy expenditure associated with the metabolism of food and increases intestinal motility—all summing up to an increased heat generation in the body after food intake, known as diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT). However, how prolonged chewing induces DIT in the body remains unclear. Recently, Dr. Yuka Hamada and Professor Naoyuki Hayashi from Waseda University, Japan, have published a study that provides a causal link between chewing and DIT. The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

DIT, also known as the thermic effect of food consumption, increases energy expenditure above the basal fasting level—a factor known to prevent weight gain. Earlier, the team found that slow eating and thorough chewing not only increased DIT but also enhanced blood circulation in the splanchnic region of the abdomen. Although these studies linked chewing-induced-DIT with increased digestion and absorption-related activity in the abdomen, they left scopes for further exploring a few crucial points. Hayashi explains, “We were unsure whether the size of the food bolus that entered the digestive tract contributed to the increase in DIT observed after slow eating. Also, do oral stimuli generated during prolonged chewing of food play any role in increasing DIT? To define slow chewing as an effective and scientific weight management strategy, we needed to look deeper into these aspects.”