Slow down!
A number
of recent studies around the world, from America to France to Japan, have revealed
that eating until you are full and eating quickly are associated with being
overweight. The Japanese study followed 3,287 adults aged between 30-69 who took
part in a number of surveys on cardiovascular risk. The result highlighted the
link between dietary habits and obesity which goes to show that it is not just
what you eat but how you eat it.
This is
further amplifies in what is known as the “French paradox” which refers to the fact that although
the French diet is quite high in cholesterol-raising, calorie-rich, saturated
fats from meat and dairy foods, rates of heart disease and obesity are lower in
France than in the United States.
Much of
the population’s relative immunity to cardiovascular disease is believed to
stem from the famous French penchant for vegetables and red wine, both of which
are high in artery-protecting antioxidants.
With
regard to the other part of the Paradox – the rarity of obesity in France
despite its people’s fatty diet -- a joint French-American team set out to test
their hypothesis that the French savour their food more slowly and in smaller
portions, compared with Americans (Rozin P et al 2003).
The team
members came from the University of Pennsylvania and the government-funded
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique or CNRS in Paris.
As the
authors stated the case, “… the French are leaner than Americans. The mean body
mass index … is 24.4 for French adults … as compared with 26.6 for American
adults … In contrast to the 22.3% of Americans who qualify as obese (BMI 30),
only 7.4% of French so qualify … Although the French eat more fat than
Americans, they probably eat slightly fewer calories.” (Rozin P et al 2003)
These facts
raise an obvious question. Fat contains more than twice as many calories nine
per gram), compared with carbohydrates and protein (four per gram). Since
people in France eat more fat than Americans consume, how can the French be
eating fewer calories?
Restaurant
research proves revealing
The French
and American researchers went to McDonald's fast food joints in urban shopping
districts at the same time of year at lunch time, to record the time people
remained seated with their food. They found
that the average American customer spent 35 percent less time at the table. The
French spent an average of 22.2 minutes eating and sitting at McDonald's, while
Americans stayed only 14.4 minutes. But speed
wasn’t the only difference the investigators uncovered. They also found that
the French restaurants serve smaller portions.
They
measured this by visiting other chain restaurants in Paris and Philadelphia,
and measuring the weights of comparable meals being served, or, within the same
chains, the weights of ostensibly identical meals being served. They found
that the average portions served, even within the same chain, were
substantially bigger in America (Rozin P et al 2003).
