Potential Relationship between Self-Assessed Eating Speed and Recalled Duration of Eating Meals in Apparently Healthy Adults.

ABSTRACT

Background: Self-assessed eating speed was frequently used to assess an individual’s eating speed in previous clinical studies. However, the relationship between selfassessed eating speed and the duration of eating meals is unknown. Place and Duration of Study A cross-sectional study in Saitama, an eastern district of Japan, near Tokyo, in 2012. Methodology: We determined self-assessed eating speed relative to other people and recalled duration of eating meals (rDEM) in 472 apparently healthy Japanese adults aged 18–69 years. Self-assessed eating speed was assessed using a simple question and was divided into three categories (slow, normal, and rapid). Subjects were asked to report rDEM over the last few days to the nearest 5 min. Results: rDEM decreased significantly from slow to rapid self-assessed eating speed (all, P < .0001), and from dinner and lunch to breakfast (P < .0001). Similar trends were observed when subjects were divided into three categories according to chewing frequency. Conclusion: Self-assessed eating speed and rDEM may be closely correlated with each other and with chewing frequency, and might be useful to evaluate overall eating behaviors