Historically, eating for humans was social event that involved groups of individuals. Families or tribal units would come together for consumption of centrally prepared food and this event was socially important in the bonding of such groups. Eating in this traditional manner was regarded as an important component of mental and physical well being, and as such meals were seen as pivotal in the holistic maintenance of human health. This way of eating is still practiced in some Japanese and Mediterranean regions where consumption of foods and social etiquette still follows traditional practices. However, modern living that characterises the Western diet has removed much of the social interaction of eating and replaced it with the belief that food simply serves the purpose of energy replenishment. Food is no longer seen as pivotal to the health of the body, a role that has been given over to pharmaceutical medicines. This shift in belief is thought by many to be partly responsible for the declining health of Western populations.
The centralisation of eating to a social event increases the awareness of the consumption of food, because the food is the focus of attention. In contrast, modern Western eating practices are characterised by multiple foci, and as such distractions such as television have been suggested to alter the behaviour associated with the act of eating. This is because the awareness and memory of eating may influence food intake, and many studies have been published on how distraction and can influence both the immediate and subsequent food intakes. For example, in a meta-analysis, researchers combined the data from 24 studies investigating the ability of distractions to alter food intake1. The results from the analysis showed that distractions were significantly able to alter the immediate food intake of subjects, but increased later food intake to a greater extent. However, the authors pointed out that the changes to the energy intake of the subjects may be related to the mental capacity of the individual subjects to be distracted.
Therefore distractions during eating may increase energy intake, while a greater awareness of eating may decrease energy intake. Further, the type of food eaten in the West may not be the only variable that influences the higher rate of lifestyle disease, but the way this food is consumed may also play a role. Interestingly, removal of all visual clue as to the amount of food eaten caused a significant increase in immediate food intake, and this highlights the role played by the cephalic phase of digestion on the intake of food. Further, reinforcement of the memory of the quantity of food eaten significantly decreased later food intake, which may indicate that conscious thought of recent food intake is able to override the unconscious stimulation of appetite. Although this study did not take into account the speed at which the food was eaten, it is likely that focussing awareness on the food slows the rate of eating. Therefore slower more focusses awareness of the feeding process may be a key regulator of future energy intake.
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