Satiety is body’s response to inhibit further eating. There is growing knowledge around the subject of intake of food, chewing of food as well as its connection to satiety. According to experts reduced chewing of food leads to bypassing of the initial oral signaling process that eventually leads to onset of satiety. As a result there is delay in realizing satiety which has the drawback of food overconsumption and therefore weight gain.
Eating fast without chewing can happen when we eat and drink food that can be consumed quickly. The various lifestyle related changes in food habits have their own contribution to this. During one organized study on food consumption and its relation to chewing and satiety, consumers were not able to estimate how much they had eaten and hence how much intake they should have had as per their individual caloric requirement.
As we look around, we can see that with changing lifestyle, we have increasingly started using refined grains and flour. In the process of grain refining we have been stripping away the roughage from food. This roughage or dietary fibre of food is the macro ingredient that makes us chew the food in the first place. It delays and retards absorption of carbohydrates and fats thus increasing the satiety value of food.
Indian dietary guidelines suggest intake of 40-45 gm of fibre per person per day. Fibre intake has been critical to optimum health and has been linked to reduced body weight and anti-inflammatory benefits.