Relationship between chewing features and body mass index in young adolescents.
BACKGROUND
Behavioural aspects of chewing may influence food intake, nutritional status and in turn body weight.


OBJECTIVES
The current study aimed to study chewing features in adolescents as they naturally occur in home-based settings, and to test for a possible association with weight status.


METHODS
Forty-two adolescents (15.3 ± 1.3 years) were recruited (21 with healthy-weight/21 with overweight). Using a smartphone-assisted wearable electromyographic device, the chewing features of each participant were assessed over one evening, including the evening meal, in their natural home setting.


RESULTS
The mean (±SD) for chewing pace was 1.53 ± 0.22 Hz, chewing power 30.1% ± 4.8%, number of chewing episodes 63.1 ± 36.7 and chewing time 11.0 ± 7.7 minutes. The chewing pace of the group with overweight was slower than that of healthy weight (-0.20 Hz; 95% CI, -0.06 to -0.33; P = .005) while their chewing time was shorter (-4.9 minutes; 95% CI, 0.2-9.7; P = .044). A significant negative correlation was observed between BMI z-score and chewing pace (R = -.41; P = .007), and between BMI z-score and chewing time (R = -0.32; P = .039).


CONCLUSION
The current study suggests that adolescents who are overweight eat at a slower pace for a shorter period of time than their counterparts who are a healthy weight. This unexpected finding based on objective data appears to conflict with existing questionnaire findings but provides impetus for further work testing the effectiveness of changing eating behaviour as a weight-management intervention in youth.
['Idris|Ghassan|G|0000-0001-8654-6562', 'Smith|Claire|C|0000-0003-0454-3806', 'Galland|Barbara|B|0000-0002-2376-3575', 'Taylor|Rachael|R|0000-0001-9516-2253', 'Robertson|Christopher J|CJ|', 'Bennani|Hamza|H|0000-0002-3920-8031', 'Farella|Mauro|M|0000-0003-4516-647X']
D000293:Adolescent D015992:Body Mass Index D005247:Feeding Behavior D006801:Humans D008409:Mastication D062407:Meals D050177:Overweight
overweight electromyography feeding behaviour mastication obesity wearable electronic devices