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

Innovative Use of Mobile Phones to Promote Physical Activity and Nutrition across the Lifespan (The IMPACT) Research Group, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, 14183 Huddinge, Sweden

Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Center of Clinical, Experimental Surgery and Translational Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece

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Department of Informatics and Telematics, Harokopio University of Athens, 17778 Athens, Greece

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International English School, 11858 Stockholm, Sweden

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Lab of Medical Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

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Ekpaideftiria N. Mpakogianni, 41500 Larissa, Greece

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Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, International Hellenic University, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece

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Multimedia Understanding Group, Information Processing Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

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Ellinogermaniki Agogi, 15351 Pallini, Greece

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Dawn K. Wilson

Nutrients 2021, 13(3), 880; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030880

Received: 10 February 2021 / Revised: 26 February 2021 / Accepted: 5 March 2021 / Published: 9 March 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyle in Adolescents)

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Abstract

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 (n = 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 (n = 748) and Greece (n = 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%, p = 0.012), while students with fast SRER had higher OBER vs. students with slow SRER (mean difference: +13.7 g/min or +56%, p = 0.001). However, there was “minimal” agreement between SRER and OBER categories (κ = 0.31, p < 0.001). In Study 2, OBER during lunch 1 had a “large” correlation with OBER during lunch 2 (r = 0.75, p < 0.001). In Study 3, fast SRER students had higher BMIz vs. slow SRER students (mean difference: 0.37, p < 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. View Full-Text

Keywords: eating rate; obesity; eating quickly; fast eating; eating speed; objective measures; self-reported; validation; high-school students; adolescents

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MDPI and ACS Style

Fagerberg, P.; Charmandari, E.; Diou, C.; Heimeier, R.; Karavidopoulou, Y.; Kassari, P.; Koukoula, E.; Lekka, I.; Maglaveras, N.; Maramis, C.; Pagkalos, I.; Papapanagiotou, V.; Riviou, K.; Sarafis, I.; Tragomalou, A.; Ioakimidis, I. Fast Eating Is Associated with Increased BMI among High-School Students. Nutrients 2021, 13, 880. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030880

AMA Style

Fagerberg P, Charmandari E, Diou C, Heimeier R, Karavidopoulou Y, Kassari P, Koukoula E, Lekka I, Maglaveras N, Maramis C, Pagkalos I, Papapanagiotou V, Riviou K, Sarafis I, Tragomalou A, Ioakimidis I. Fast Eating Is Associated with Increased BMI among High-School Students. Nutrients. 2021; 13(3):880. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030880

Chicago/Turabian Style

Fagerberg, Petter, Evangelia Charmandari, Christos Diou, Rachel Heimeier, Youla Karavidopoulou, Penio Kassari, Evangelia Koukoula, Irini Lekka, Nicos Maglaveras, Christos Maramis, Ioannis Pagkalos, Vasileios Papapanagiotou, Katerina Riviou, Ioannis Sarafis, Athanasia Tragomalou, and Ioannis Ioakimidis. 2021. "Fast Eating Is Associated with Increased BMI among High-School Students" Nutrients 13, no. 3: 880. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030880

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