New Almond Study Finds Chewing is More Than Meets the Mouth: Thorough Chewing May Influence Feelings o...( MODESTO Calif. May 7 -- As children ...),Health

MODESTO, Calif., May 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As children, we all remember our mother telling us to chew our food well and later in life, realizing that chewing can help us to appreciate the taste and texture of food better. Now new research presented today to physicians attending the 17th European Congress of Obesity in Amsterdam and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that chewing may play a more complex role in the digestion process, impacting nutrient absorption, and feelings of satiety or fullness.

The study examined how chewing almonds may impact physiology including appetite and hunger, hormone response and the efficiency of fat absorption.(1) The study revealed that those who chewed two ounces of almonds longer, 25 or 40 times before swallowing, absorbed significantly more good, unsaturated fat, than those who chewed the almonds only 10 times before swallowing.

The study also explored the implications of thoroughly chewed almonds on satiety, measuring the effects on hormones and hunger scale ratings. Increased fat in the small intestine often stimulates secretion of several hormones associated with feelings of fullness. Researchers measured these hormones and also required participants to fill out an appetite questionnaire before and after eating almonds. Although overall there were only significant effects on the hormone insulin, subjects who chewed almonds a greater number of times, reported feeling significantly less hungry and more full than when they chewed the almonds less.

"This new almond research indicates that chewing more thoroughly may increase the availability of unsaturated fat and previous research suggests smaller particle size also impacts the availability of other nutrients present in the fat, like vitamin E, to the body," explained study author Richard Mattes, PhD, RD, at Purdue University. "These findings also emphasize the impor
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