Effects of Simple Verbal Instructions on Eating Rate, Fullness, Meal Enjoyment and Meal Satisfaction

Laboratory studies have highlighted that eating slowly can increase satiety and might be an effective strategy in weight control. However, it was noted that slow eating can be less desirable in real life. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of simple verbal instructions on eating rate, fullness, meal enjoyment and satisfaction. It was predicted that instructing people to eat slowly and ‘savour’ a food would decrease eating speed and provide more fullness compared to control group. In addition, savouring a food would increase meal enjoyment and satisfaction. Firstly, baseline measures (hunger, fullness, thirst,) were collected from 100 healthy volunteers. Following this, they were allocated to one of three experimental conditions and instructed to eat a 431.03 kcal fixed lunch meal. Then, post-meal measures (hunger, fullness, meal enjoyment and satisfaction) were collected. Results demonstrates that participants in slow eating condition markedly decrease their eating rate compared to participants in usual and savour conditions. On the other hand, there was no significant differences in fullness, meal enjoyment and meal satisfaction across conditions. This study indicates that eating speed can be altered by simple instructions rather than complicated methods, however reduction in eating speed may not increase fullness, enjoyment and satisfaction.