Fast food leads to obesity: myth or reality?

One of the most common goals in everyone’s New Year’s resolutions is weight loss. For this reason, in January many people start exercise and watch your diet. The latter is quite controversial, since there are those who think that take care of your diet It consists of being hungry. This can not only be dangerous, but also counterproductive since it is impossible to maintain it over time. It is much more important to have good nutrition education and care about the nutritional value of what we eat, always ensuring both physical and mental health. It’s also important to take into account details that we usually overlook, such as the speed at which we eat. And no, this is not a myth: Fast eating leads to obesity.

Numerous studies have been conducted on both adults and children that show that fast eating leads to weight gain and, in addition, can lead to certain health problems. For example, it is associated with high triglyceride levels, obesity, and even the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

It makes sense that the speed at which we eat is not the only factor influencing how much we gain. This is something very complex, where many parameters influence. But the truth is that speed is one of the first things we can control. Sometimes we lead such a fast pace of life that we don’t realize that we are greedy instead of eating. Before we start a diet, perhaps we should start by being aware of this problem and try eat more slowly. The results may surprise us.

All the negative consequences of eating instead of eating

Fast food leads to obesity, but that’s not all. There has been so much research on this topic that several research groups have dedicated themselves to collecting and conducting it. scientific literature reviews where the results are divided.

This is the case, for example, with a group of scientists from University of Manitoba, in Canada. In an article for BBClead author of the study Sai Krishna Gudiexplained that there is no evidence perfect time what we should spend on food. This largely depends on each person.

However, there is ample evidence that fast eating can lead to certain problems. One of the simplest, but also annoying is swelling. If we eat quickly, we also absorb more air while chewing. This leads to gas accumulation and bloating. We might think that this is what gives rise to the illusion that fast food leads to obesity. But it’s not just about gases.

In 2015, a group of scientists from Kyushu Universityin Japan conducted another review of the scientific literature, which demonstrated that fast eating is associated with increased body mass index and a high probability of developing obesity. In this study regulation of total energy consumption to check whether this affected the results. It was found that even after this adjustment, the results persisted. This means that the speed at which we eat is just as important as the quantity and nutritional value of what we eat. Everything must be taken into account.

On the other hand, in 2021, a group of researchers from University of Rovira and VirgiliA review was conducted in Spain that included even more studies. In addition, a distinction was made between children and adults. It has been noted that fast eating is associated with increase in body weight and waist circumference in adults. In children it is also associated with greater accumulation of fat.

On the other hand, it has been observed that in some, as in others, the fact of eating quickly increases the risk of high levels of both factors. triglycerides as of blood sugar content.

Reasons Why Fast Eating Leads to Obesity

We know that fast food leads to obesity. But why? The reasons are not entirely clear, although there are some hypotheses. For example, it is known that when we eat a lot, the brain picks up signals such as bloating or release of hormones associated with satiety and send them along the message that we are full. We feel full and usually don’t eat anymore. This message sending takes 20 minutes. If we eat very quickly, we may have eaten too much in those 20 minutes, but we didn’t have time to realize that we were full, so we continue to eat more and more.

This is one of the factors why fast eating can lead to weight gain. But that’s not all. It has also been observed that when we eat quickly, a large number of molecules called inflammatory cytokineswhich, among other things, contributes insulin resistance which can cause excess weight and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

What can we do?

If eating fast makes you fat, eating slowly is obviously beneficial. But when we get used to eating one way, it’s difficult change this habit.

For this it is recommended to use conscious eating. This is to focus on sensations that food conveys to us: taste, smell, texture… Sometimes we eat so quickly that we don’t pay attention to it all. We can also use a timer to calculate how long it will take and change it. But above all, you should avoid eating in front of the office computer or eating lunch while thinking about the work that needs to be done or the emails that need to be answered. All this will only make us eat anxiously and quickly. Both factors contribute to weight gain, which is not what we want.