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Take small bites, like these folks.

(Alex Remnick/The Star-Ledger)

Mom was right: Don’t wolf down your food.

Eating a meal slowly causes people to feel less hungry later on, according to a study released today in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Researchers have long wondered about the relationship between the eating speed and body weight. However, most of that research was done on subjects of a normal weight.

In this latest round of research, a team at Texas Christian University included both normal-weight subjects and overweight or obese subjects as well.

Both groups were asked to consume two meals at a specified pace. During the first meal, they were told to take their time, to take small bites, chew their food thoroughly, and even pause and put their spoon down between bites.

During the second meal, they were told to imagine they were in a rush: to take large bites, chew quickly, and eat without pause and without putting the spoon down.

The research turned up a mixed bag of results.

The normal-weight folks ate significantly fewer calories when they ate more slowly. The obese group saw only a slight reduction in the calories they consumed. But skewing the results was that the heavy group ate less overall than the regular group. Researchers suspect the heavier subjects may have eaten less because they felt self-conscious having their eating habits observed.



Despite the difference in calories consumed, both groups reported feeling less hungry an hour later if they ate slowly than if they ate quickly.

"These results indicate that greater hunger suppression among both groups could be expected from a meal that is consumed more slowly," said Meena Shah lead author of the study.

One factor that may have an impact: Participants in both groups drank more water with their slow meal than they did with their quick one. During the quick meal, they drank an average of 9 ounces; during the slow meal, 12 ounces.

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