Why meal type matters more than eating speed

Health experts have long urged people to eat slowly, arguing that unhurried meals aid digestion, give the brain time to register fullness, and help prevent weight gain. Yet turning that advice into everyday practice is difficult – especially in a world full of food designed for speed.

A new study led by Fujita Health University in Japan suggests a surprisingly simple solution: focus on what you eat rather than fussing over how you chew.

“Eating slowly is widely recommended for obesity prevention,” said professor Katsumi Iizuka, who led the research. “But people often don’t know how to implement this advice.”

“Our study shows that simply choosing the right type of meal – such as a bento instead of fast food – can naturally extend meal duration and encourage more mindful eating.”

A slice or a bento?

Iizuka’s team recruited 41 adults – 18 men and 23 women aged 20 to 65 – and invited them to eat three different test meals on separate days.

One meal was a slice of ready-to-eat pizza. The other two were identical bento boxes containing rice, vegetables, and hamburger steak, but with a twist. In one trial, participants ate the vegetables first, and in the other, they ate the vegetables last.

Each volunteer wore a small chewing sensor on the cheek while researchers filmed the session. Together, the sensor and video tracked bite count, chewing speed, and total meal time from first bite to last swallow.

Meal type alters eating speed

The contrast was striking. Regardless of vegetable order, participants finished their pizza far faster than either of the bento meals.

Eating pizza required fewer chews, took less time, and involved a smoother, almost uninterrupted rhythm of bites.

The bento boxes, on the other hand, demanded chopsticks, small mouthfuls, and pauses between items, all of which stretched the meal and bumped up chew counts.

Some food is designed for speed

Researchers had expected that starting with vegetables might slow people down, yet the vegetable-first versus vegetable-last sequence made little difference. What mattered was the physical format.

Bento lunches present food in separate compartments and oblige diners to pick up each morsel individually, often with an eye toward appreciation and balance. Pizza, by contrast, is explicitly engineered for one-handed convenience.

“One key factor affecting meal speed is how the food is served and eaten. Bento meals are served in small portions that need to be picked up with chopsticks, which slows down the process,” Iizuka said.

“In contrast, pizza is eaten by hand and is often designed to be eaten quickly. This difference in serving style plays a big role in how fast people eat.”

Obesity and meal types

Across the sample, men generally ate more quickly than women, taking fewer chews per bite. Age also affected tempo: older participants tended to finish sooner than younger ones, perhaps reflecting dental changes or learned habits.

Contrary to stereotype, body mass index did not predict speed. Higher weight volunteers did not necessarily eat faster.

Instead, the authors speculate that those struggling with obesity might favor ultra-processed, easy-to-eat foods like pizza, which lend themselves to shorter meals and possible overeating.

Chewing rhythm is hard-wired

The investigation uncovered another intriguing detail: chewing tempo – how many chews per second – varied only slightly between meals.

That finding supports earlier research indicating that humans maintain a brainstem-controlled chewing rhythm that is remarkably constant, no matter the cuisine.

What changes with meal type is the number of chews and the time between bites. Bigger, softer pieces let diners breeze through lunch; smaller, denser bites naturally slow them down.

Blueprint for mindful eating

“Eating slowly” sounds simple, yet it often fails in real-world settings because it demands willpower at every bite. The new results point to an easier route: design meals in a way that enforces slow eating automatically.

Serving food in smaller portions, requiring utensils, and mixing textures that need more mastication can stretch meal time without conscious effort.

“If we want to help people eat more slowly, we should focus less on telling them how to chew and more on helping them choose meals that require slower, more deliberate eating,” Iizuka said. “This could be a simple yet powerful tool in our fight against obesity and related diseases,”

From laboratory to lunch box

The study carries immediate implications for public-health advice. Nutritionists might steer clients toward multi-component meals – traditional Japanese bento, Mediterranean mezze, or even tapas – rather than single-piece fare.

Schools and workplace cafeterias could offer compartmentalized trays that encourage utensil use and smaller bites. Food manufacturers might rethink packaging to promote paced consumption instead of speed.

For individuals looking to adopt slower eating habits, the takeaway is refreshingly doable: swap handheld, “instant” foods for dishes that involve a bit of assembly on the fork or chopsticks.

In an age of rising obesity rates, that simple choice could help people eat less, savor more, and support long-term health without counting chews or watching the clock.

The study is published in the journal Nutrients.

—–

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates. 

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

—–