The "chewing slowly" in the doctor's eyes, how many times do you chew each mouthful?

How long do you spend a meal a day?

Recently, the video of giant panda Hua Hua "chewing more than 40 times of an apple in one bite" has become popular on the Internet, and netizens have said: The main thing is to chew slowly and swallow, Hua Hua knows how to maintain figure...

Previously, "star-style eating methods" such as chewing 32 bites of bread and 121 chewing of spring cakes have also triggered discussions among netizens.

Experts interviewed

Song Xin, Dietitian, Department of Nutrition, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University

Can chewing slowly really lose weight?

Although the organ that most directly perceives "fullness" is the stomach, it is the brain that really controls appetite and manipulates the mouth.

In general, blood sugar levels rise significantly 15 minutes after starting to eat, and after they gradually stabilize, the brain will respond to the stomach "I'm full" signals.

And chewing a few more times, prolonging the eating time, can stimulate the satiety nerve center, when the brain prompts you to "eat full", will appear early satiety and stop eating.

If you eat too quickly, the brain does not have time to fully feel full, it will keep eating more, and excessive food intake will lead to obesity for a long time.

In an experiment conducted on a Japanese TV show, when participants slowed down their eating speed (an average of 4 bites of food → 28 chews per bite), not only did the amount of food decrease, but the blood sugar level also rose slowly, and after 10 days, the weight lost 2.1 kg.

Overall, chewing slowly does help with weight loss, especially for people who need to control their weight.

Chewing slowly comes with 4 benefits

In addition to helping lose weight, chewing slowly also has certain positive effects in protecting the stomach and teeth.

Reduce gastrointestinal burden

Full chewing can grind food into smaller particles, which can better contact with digestive juices and reduce the burden on the stomach; Chewing slowly is especially suitable for people and children with poor gastrointestinal function.

Helps protect gums

Chewing carefully and chewing more can exercise jaw strength, promote healthy gums, and promote blood circulation in the gums. The saliva secreted during chewing, containing lysozyme and other antibacterial factors, can effectively prevent bacteria from multiplying.

Helps reduce stress and relax

For stressed people, chewing slowly is a friendly way to eat.

Chewing more while eating can increase blood flow to the hippocampus, the center of memory. Chewing at a certain rhythm can also promote the secretion of serotonin, a hormone that can make us feel happy and happy.

Fully feel the original taste of food

The more you chew rice and steamed buns, the sweeter they get, and the original vegetables will have a refreshing sweet aroma when chewed carefully.

Chewing slowly and concentrating when eating allows the taste buds to fully enjoy each taste and better appreciate the deliciousness of the food itself, without the need for so many condiments.

In the end, each bite is only effective if it is chewed a few times

Published in the international authoritative journal PLoS · A new study in the synthesis gives the answer: 30 bites of rice can help control blood sugar.

This study showed that patients with adequate chewing ability had significantly lower blood sugar levels than those with poor chewing ability, and when the latter's chewing ability was corrected, blood sugar levels were significantly reduced.

Adequate chewing helps increase glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) levels, which in turn reduces postprandial plasma glucose concentrations. Participants who chewed 30 times each time had a significant increase in GLP-1 in their bodies.

The Japanese "vitality gate" website also suggests that each bite can increase calorie consumption and reduce obesity rates; Makes the stomach feel full and prevents eating too much and causing indigestion.

Experts in the field of oral care and obesity treatment recommend chewing 20~30 times in one bite. This may seem difficult to do, but try to start by chewing a few times in one bite.

Best practices for chewing slowly

How to slow down eating? The experts summarized 4 main points.

Increase the number of chewings

It is recommended to chew about 20~30 times for the general population with a mouthful of rice, and people with poor spleen and stomach function and the elderly should chew each meal more than 25 times as much as possible.

People who eat quickly can cultivate a sense of "chewing slowly" and chew as many times as possible per bite.

Control meal times

For many people, how many bites to chew each bite during meals is too troublesome and unrealistic, and can be measured by meal time.

The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" recommends that breakfast is 15~20 minutes, lunch and dinner are 20~30 minutes.

Soft and hard foods must be "chewed"

When many people eat soft foods, they swallow dates. In fact, soft foods such as soup and rice, while easy to swallow, reduce the ability of teeth to chew and digest saliva.

The soup rice directly enters the stomach without chewing, and the food itself is not sufficiently softened, which not only increases the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, but also the nutrients in the food are not easy to be thoroughly digested and absorbed.

Both teeth are used

Eating should be chewed evenly on both sides of the teeth, so that the gums on both sides can be evenly stimulated, which is conducive to the normal development of teeth, jaws, and corresponding muscles. ▲

Editor of this issue: Xu Menglian