People who wolf down their food are two times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who chew their food slowly, a recent study has revealed.
Researchers from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences discovered that eating quickly leads to overeating which then develops into obesity, therefore making it an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
To test this theory, the study enlisted the help of 234 volunteers who had recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and a further 468 healthy people without the condition.
Participants were given an in-depth questionnaire to complete, detailing their dietary habits, body measurements and eating speed (rated as slow, fast or average).
During the study, presented at the International Congress of Endocrinology and European Congress of Endocrinology, researchers took other diabetes risk factors into account (like family history, smoking, waist circumference and body mass index) but discovered a two-fold increase in diabetes risk in those with faster eating habits.
“The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing globally and becoming a world pandemic. It appears to involve interaction between susceptible genetic backgrounds and environmental factors.
“It’s important to identify modifiable risk factors that may help people reduce their chances of developing the disease,” researcher Dr Lina Radzeviciene said in a statement.
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This isn’t the first time research has suggested a link between eating speed and diet-related illnesses. A previous report by the Journal of the American Dietetic Associationdiscovered that speedy eaters are more likely to be obese than slow eaters.