Eat Slowly & Prevent Diabetes?

If you scarf down your meals quickly without savoring what you're eating, you could be raising your chances of becoming a diabetic by a whopping 2½ times. That's the conclusion of scientists in Lithuania who studied the lifestyle habits of 702 people, 234 of whom had been diagnosed with diabetes. The researchers presented their study at the International Congress of Endocrinology and the European Congress of Endocrinology in Florence, Italy.   HealthDay reports that lead researcher Dr Lina Radzeviciene from Lithuanian University of Health Sciences said: "The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing globally and becoming a world pandemic. It appears to involve interaction between susceptible genetic backgrounds and environmental factors. It’s important to identify modifiable risk factors that may help people reduce their chances of developing the disease."   Dr. Radzeviciene and colleagues suggest that the reason for the possible link between eating fast and getting diabetes is that gulping meals quickly tends to lead to weight gain, which in turn often leads to diabetes. True enough, this is a small study that did not prove cause and effect, but we think you might as well have more leisurely meals anyway. That can't hurt, and at the very least you won't be as likely get indigestion!