| In: Scientific Research
Computing Device Helps Overweight Children Eat Less by Eating Slowly
You have probably heard the diet tip about slowing down when you eat; rest between bites, put your fork down, and thus allow your stomach to signal to your brain that you are full. Now researchers are using computers to help overweight children slow down when they eat:
CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports that a still on-going clinical trial by British researchers that combines exercise, healthy eating, psychology and technology may provide a breakthrough in the treatment of obesity.
“Do people with eating problems eat too fast?” Dr. Julian Hamilton Shield a child obesity expert at Bristol asks. “Do they eat so fast that the message from the stomach telling them that they’re full doesn’t get there in time because they’ve already eaten all the food on their plate?”
They’re experimenting with a Swedish computing device called a “Mandometer.” It was developed to treat people with anorexia and bulimia, but now experts are looking to see if it can also be used to re-educate the overweight – to teach them to slow down.
Fourteen year old Bella Lattuca is one of 120 patients enrolled in the trial. She said she’s tried to lose weight before and it didn’t really work.
But in one year, Bella has lost 35 pounds and is still dropping.