Fast Eating Is Associated with Increased BMI among High-School Students

• Published in: Nutrients 2021-03, Vol.13 (3), p.880
• Main Authors: Fagerberg, Petter, Charmandari, Evangelia, Diou, Christos, Heimeier, Rachel, Karavidopoulou, Youla, Kassari, Penio, Koukoula, Evangelia, Lekka, Irini, Maglaveras, Nicos, Maramis, Christos, Pagkalos, Ioannis, Papapanagiotou, Vasileios, Riviou, Katerina, Sarafis, Ioannis, Tragomalou, Athanasia, Ioakimidis, Ioannis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; Body mass index; Eating; Eating behavior; eating quickly; eating rate; eating speed; fast eating; Females; Food intake; Lunches; Meals; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Obesity; objective measures; Populations; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Students
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu13030880

Fast self-reported eating rate (SRER) has been associated with increased adiposity in children and adults. No studies have been conducted among high-school students, and SRER has not been validated vs. objective eating rate (OBER) in such populations. The objectives were to investigate (among high-school student populations) the association between OBER and BMI z-scores (BMIz), the validity of SRER vs. OBER, and potential differences in BMIz between SRER categories. Three studies were conducted. Study 1 included 116 Swedish students (mean ± SD age: 16.5 ± 0.8, 59% females) who were eating school lunch. Food intake and meal duration were objectively recorded, and OBER was calculated. Additionally, students provided SRER. Study 2 included students ( = 50, mean ± SD age: 16.7 ± 0.6, 58% females) from Study 1 who ate another objectively recorded school lunch. Study 3 included 1832 high-school students (mean ± SD age: 15.8 ± 0.9, 51% females) from Sweden ( = 748) and Greece ( = 1084) who provided SRER. In Study 1, students with BMIz ≥ 0 had faster OBER vs. students with BMIz < 0 (mean difference: +7.7 g/min or +27%, = 0.012), while students with fast SRER had higher OBER vs. students with slow SRER (mean difference: +13.7 g/min or +56%, = 0.001). However, there was "minimal" agreement between SRER and OBER categories (κ = 0.31, < 0.001). In Study 2, OBER during lunch 1 had a "large" correlation with OBER during lunch 2 ( = 0.75, < 0.001). In Study 3, fast SRER students had higher BMIz vs. slow SRER students (mean difference: 0.37, < 0.001). Similar observations were found among both Swedish and Greek students. For the first time in high-school students, we confirm the association between fast eating and increased adiposity. Our validation analysis suggests that SRER could be used as a proxy for OBER in studies with large sample sizes on a group level. With smaller samples, OBER should be used instead. To assess eating rate on an individual level, OBER can be used while SRER should be avoided.