Doctors urge patients to become good eaters and avoid becoming overweight

By Tatsuya Tsujimura

TOKYO —

Chew each mouthful of food 30 times and step on the scales every day if you have put on a little weight. That is what Nobuyuki Watanabe, director of a clinic in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, tells patients he is treating for high blood pressure and diabetes, which have become well known in Japan as lifestyle-related illnesses, or metabolic syndrome.

It is hard for many people to munch food 30 times to begin with but they should work out some trick such as leaving their chopsticks on the dining table while chewing, he said. They then can acquire the habit.

Watanabe, chief of the Tokushukai Shintoshin Clinic, has given such guidance for the last five years to patients who have put on the pounds.

He also offered similar advice to 108 residents of Miyako Island from 2006 to 2008. They shed 5.5 kilograms on average in the six months after they started following his advice. Those who continued for a year lost 6.3 kg, indicating that the longer one follows his advice the more weight one drops.

Obese people logging 35.0 to 39.9 in terms of body mass index or BMI, which is calculated by dividing one’s weight in kilograms by the square of one’s height in meters, succeeded in slimming down by an average of 10.3 kg during the six-month period.

‘‘Exercise or going on a diet is difficult to keep going,’’ Watanabe said. ‘‘Some people become stressed and stop undergoing treatment. But they can easily chew food thoroughly and weigh themselves every day. I ask my patients to come to the clinic once a week and I explain to them persistently the effects of chewing food.’‘

He also said, ‘‘If you chew food extensively you find a rise in the volume of saliva and your palate becomes delicate. Then, you prefer not to eat greasy food. You become able to naturally adjust the amount of your food intake.’‘

There is a satiety center in the brain of a person ‘‘telling’’ him or her to stop eating in response to an increase in the blood sugar level. But it takes it more than 10 to 30 minutes to react.

A fast eater consumes food before the satiety center has a chance to signal to the person to stop eating. Slow eating enables the center to respond and prevents a person from overeating.

A research team led by Hiroyasu Iso, professor of public health at Osaka University, published a report in a British medical journal last year saying that people’s dietary habits such as fast eating can lead to obesity.

About 3,300 men and women aged 30 to 69 in the town of Ikawa in Akita Prefecture in northeastern Japan and Yao in Osaka Prefecture were the target of the research on the relationship between their habits of eating to satisfy their appetites and fatness.

The research team learned that those who either ate fast or consumed food until they were full showed a tendency to exceed 25.0, which is a BMI standard for gauging obesity among Japanese. About half of the fast eaters clearly passed the standard figure.

Iso said it is necessary for Japanese to take a new look at the ancient way of eating: chew fully and stick to moderation.

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Latest 15 of 28 Total Comments Show All

helloklitty at 06:33 PM JST - 27th February

According to this my BMI is about 22.584 and I eat whatever, whenever, and as fast as I want to.

You must be in your early 20s.

how does chewing food reduce the number of calories and fat in food? doesnt make any sense at all

It doesn't reduce the number of calories, but I presume the feeling of fullness comes before you've finished the horse.
helloklitty at 06:34 PM JST - 27th February

Sounds like CYA by the docs.
sharky1 at 07:46 PM JST - 27th February

Even if I had all my teeth, it is unlikely that I would chew food 30 times no matter what my condition might be. Likely to get tendonitis in the jaw from so much chewing. What are these people thinking!
ptolemy at 08:09 PM JST - 27th February

Doctor: Now, I want you to eat healthy and watch your weight.

Patient: I can't. I go to work at 7am and work till 12am. Then I have to eat dinner at 1am. Then wake up at 6am and slam 3 cans of machine coffee and start all over again.

Doctor: Why?

Patient: So I can be the division oyaji salaryman chief.

Doctor: Ah, I see. Well then, gambaru ne!
mareo2 at 08:33 PM JST - 27th February

From my own experiences, I saw that most japanese eat the food at work in 10-15 minutes like Scrote's son tell. The reason is that we get more free time, for talk, smoke, drink coffe or sleep. Then back to long hours of work/study. Munching 30 times is against the school learned culture/tradition of stealing free time to to other activities like sleeping. If it was a law, people just eat less food. If they give more time for eat, we just get more free time for talk, drink coffe and/or smoke.
ca1ic0cat at 11:01 PM JST - 27th February

Yeah, there isn't much time given to eating lunch here. Some of the people eat at their desk and the rest rip through the company cafeteria and then go to the store or to play ping-pong or something. Plus the caf is so crowded with the lunch times rotating that it's rude to take your time.

Taking your time eating helps because the act of chewing and letting your stomach fill slowly give your brain time to figure out that you have eaten and turns off the "hungry" signal. From what I know (limited, to be sure) it takes about 20 minutes for this to happen. So you can cram in too much food in 15 minutes and not feel full right away. That leads to over-eating.
aikisako at 05:16 AM JST - 28th February

the food will lose the taste after too much chewing, maybe that's what put people off. But chewing is important. Better than slurping!
Disillusioned at 08:42 AM JST - 28th February

Chew each mouthful of food 30 times

Can you see a Jp suit taking his time eating lunch? Honestly? Somebody has just wasted a lot if time and money putting together a report that is pretty much standard knowledge.
seesaw at 10:31 AM JST - 28th February

Yea, I agree with you Disillusioned. I already know about this matter and had been doing it....such a waste of news space...
illsayit at 07:43 PM JST - 28th February

Oh it did help up the doctors clients numbers, and all those people who would be ignorant enough to believe such crap.
aikisako at 08:17 PM JST - 28th February

I don't think this news is a waste at all, it's true that most people know this but few remember to chew food properly, especially if you're in a hurry. Thanks Watanabe-sensei for the reminder, it's needed from time to time :*)
Yuki_51 at 09:59 PM JST - 28th February

If you want to lose weight, it's pretty simple:

1) get on the scale once a day at about the same time of day

2) log the results, including your 7- and 21-day average -- again without fail

Failure to do either one will result in diet failure.
seesaw at 10:42 PM JST - 28th February

aikisako: when you get used to it, it becomes a way of life. JT should save this space for something more beneficial and not just an old grandma tale like the one above...lol
seesaw at 10:44 PM JST - 28th February

Yuki 51

I agree with you. I'm doing the same, plus exercise 2-3 times a week and drink micro-diet for lunch when I have business dinners...and no cheese cakes...:(
aikisako at 11:33 PM JST - 28th February

"it becomes a way of life" yes i can see that, with a microdiet for lunch (rolls eyes) don't slurp it now dear :*)))