Dr. Sarah Berry

Absolutely. We now know that eating rate is important. There's some fantastic work that's being done by a professor, Kieran Ford, who's dedicated many years into researching this and looking at how changing the structure and texture of the food can modulate your eating rate and how also your eating rate can modulate how you metabolize the food and how many calories you go on to eat.

Absolutely. We now know that eating rate is important. There's some fantastic work that's being done by a professor, Kieran Ford, who's dedicated many years into researching this and looking at how changing the structure and texture of the food can modulate your eating rate and how also your eating rate can modulate how you metabolize the food and how many calories you go on to eat.

And so it's a great example. You know, I talked about all of these different pieces of the puzzle. That's one of those pieces.

And so it's a great example. You know, I talked about all of these different pieces of the puzzle. That's one of those pieces.

So when we talk about how you eat, changing your eating rate, so how quickly you have your breakfast, your lunch or dinner or any of these snacks, will also, without you consciously thinking about it, change how many calories you eat, might change how quickly you metabolize the food as well.

So when we talk about how you eat, changing your eating rate, so how quickly you have your breakfast, your lunch or dinner or any of these snacks, will also, without you consciously thinking about it, change how many calories you eat, might change how quickly you metabolize the food as well.

So the research that's been done by Karen Ford shows that on average, if you change the speed in which you eat your food by about 20%, you reduce your calorie intake by about 15%. And that's due to where you're releasing your hunger hormones, how many fullness hormones you're releasing, etc. So it's a really simple strategy.

So the research that's been done by Karen Ford shows that on average, if you change the speed in which you eat your food by about 20%, you reduce your calorie intake by about 15%. And that's due to where you're releasing your hunger hormones, how many fullness hormones you're releasing, etc. So it's a really simple strategy.

And we see this play out as well, even in our own evidence, when we look in our ZOE predict studies at fast eaters versus slow eaters, we see that once we adjust for lots of other confounders, there's a difference of 120 calories between what fast eaters have over a day versus slow eaters with the fast eaters eating more calories compared to slow eaters.

And we see this play out as well, even in our own evidence, when we look in our ZOE predict studies at fast eaters versus slow eaters, we see that once we adjust for lots of other confounders, there's a difference of 120 calories between what fast eaters have over a day versus slow eaters with the fast eaters eating more calories compared to slow eaters.

And there's even been clinical trials where they get groups of individuals and say, OK, slow down the rate at which you eat your food over the next, you know, three, four, five weeks. They have another group, they say, just eat at your normal rate.

And there's even been clinical trials where they get groups of individuals and say, OK, slow down the rate at which you eat your food over the next, you know, three, four, five weeks. They have another group, they say, just eat at your normal rate.

Those people who are intentionally slowing down the rate at which they eat their food lose more weight than those people who continue to eat at their normal rate.

Those people who are intentionally slowing down the rate at which they eat their food lose more weight than those people who continue to eat at their normal rate.

Yeah, and also the food that is available to many of us is the kind of food that can be eaten really quickly. So there's some great research that's been conducted that shows that heavily processed, soft textured type food can be eaten 50% more quickly than the unprocessed, harder textured equivalent. So the kind of food that we're eating now is quite different. So you're eating it really quickly.

Yeah, and also the food that is available to many of us is the kind of food that can be eaten really quickly. So there's some great research that's been conducted that shows that heavily processed, soft textured type food can be eaten 50% more quickly than the unprocessed, harder textured equivalent. So the kind of food that we're eating now is quite different. So you're eating it really quickly.

You're overeating because your hunger signals haven't got there, but it's that rate at which you're eating.

You're overeating because your hunger signals haven't got there, but it's that rate at which you're eating.

So we can use an example from a study that was actually conducted in 1977. And this was published in The Lancet. It was one of the first nutrition studies published in The Lancet. And it's one of the first studies published. to show the importance of the food matrix. And it kind of got buried for many years. And it's a study by the scientist called Haber where he fed individuals whole apples.

So we can use an example from a study that was actually conducted in 1977. And this was published in The Lancet. It was one of the first nutrition studies published in The Lancet. And it's one of the first studies published. to show the importance of the food matrix. And it kind of got buried for many years. And it's a study by the scientist called Haber where he fed individuals whole apples.