Can eating harder textured foods slowly influence appetite?

Objectives: Chewing a greater number of chews per bite has been shown to increase fullness, lower hunger levels and lead to a lower energy intake, when compared to chewing each bite fewer times. Increased levels of fullness and decreased levels of hunger have also been observed after consuming harder textured foods which require more chewing activity and have a longer oro-sensory exposure time. The aim of this study was to investigate whether manipulation of oral processing behaviours, through the combined effect of food texture manipulation and instructing individuals to chew slowly, has an impact on self-reported hunger, fullness and satiety outcomes. Methods: This randomised crossover experiment designed to test the impact of manipulating oral processing behaviours on self-reported hunger, fullness, satiety, desire to eat and prospective food consumption. Participants consumed two breakfasts of different texture (a ‘fast’ yoghurt and fruit compote option, and a ‘slow’ granola option) twice; once at their normal rate of eating and once after being instructed to eat slowly. Measures of self-reported appetite (hunger, fullness, satiety, desire to eat and prospective food consumption) were assessed using a visual analogue scale at three time points; baseline, immediately pre-consumption and post-consumption. Repeated measures one-way analysis of variance were conducted to measure whether change in appetite ratings between the time points differed between the four breakfast options. Results: Data were collected from 23 healthy volunteers (mean age 31.1 y, female n=16, 69.6%). Amongst the four breakfast options, no significant differences were observed in appetite measures post-meal consumption or change in appetite measures between baseline and post-consumption and pre- and post-consumption (p>0.05). Conclusions: Results from this randomised crossover breakfast study demonstrate no differences in self-reported appetite measures after consuming breakfast options designed to manipulate oral processing behaviours, through the combination of texture differences and instructions to chew slowly.