Self-Reported Rate of Eating and Risk of Overweight in Japanese Children: Ryukyus Child Health Study

The possible role of eating rate in promoting obesity has long been of interest. We examined the association between rate of eating and overweight status in Japanese children and adolescents. This Japanese cross-sectional study included 15,974 children (6-11 y; 7,956 boys and 8,018 girls) and 8,202 adolescents (12-15 y; 3,944 boys and 4,258 girls). Rate of eating was self-reported according to five categories. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from self-reported body weight and height. Overweight was defined according to the International Obesity Task Force age- and sex-specific BMI cutoffs. The overall prevalence of overweight was 13.2%. Rate of eating was positively associated with the risk of overweight, independent of protein, fat, and dietary fiber intakes. Multivariate odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for overweight in the very slow, relatively slow, medium, relatively fast, and very fast categories were 0.31 (0.20, 0.49), 0.49 (0.40, 0.60), 1 (reference), 2.81 (2.42, 3.26), and 4.49 (3.47, 5.81) in male children; 0.42 (0.31, 0.58), 0.49 (0.41, 0.59), 1 (reference), 2.74 (2.27, 3.31), and 5.69 (3.75, 8.63) in female children; 0.13 (0.03, 0.54), 0.43 (0.28, 0.65), 1 (reference), 2.31 (1.88, 2.84), and 3.84 (2.77, 5.31) in male adolescents; and 0.55 (0.30, 1.01), 0.46 (0.33, 0.65), 1 (reference), 1.30 (0.99, 1.71), and 1.49 (0.84, 2.65) in female adolescents, respectively (all p for trend<0.0001). In conclusion, this large cross-sectional study in Japan showed that a higher rate of eating was independently positively associated with an increasing risk of overweight in children and adolescents.