The Impact of Eating Rate on Energy Intake, Body Composition, and Health

Abstract

The modern food environment is often characterized by an increasingly assessable diet of inexpensive, energy-dense, and highly palatable foods. Extensive evidence indicates the eating rate of foods (g/min or kcal/min) is associated with energy intake, body composition, and the associated risk of food-based non- communicable diseases. Moderating eating rate during food intake offers a simple but effective strategy to regulate energy consumption and body weight. Research evidence from population and experimental studies demonstrates that eating at a slower rate can produce sustained changes in ad libitum energy intake, influence body composition, and moderate our metabolic response to ingested nutrients. Understanding which factors combine to influence eating rates affords new opportunities to design “slower” foods that can reduce the risk of over-consumption and support better long-term energy control. This chapter summarizes the role of eating rate in energy intake and body composition, provides an overview of development of eating behaviors in infancy and childhood, and describes the individual and food-based factors that can influence eating rate and its metabolic impact. The chapter provides a summary of research that has intervened to slow eating rate and demonstrates opportunities to support energy intake reductions using texture-led changes to eating rate.