Machine That Gives Feedback As You Eat

Sky News 06/01/2010

A set of portable scales that monitors portion size and speed of eating may be a key ingredient in losing weight.

The machine teaches the user to monitor portions, and to eat more slowly

The Mandometer machine helps retrain people to eat less and more slowly by providing real-time feedback during meal times, according to research published on bmj.com.

The device - developed at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm - plots a graph showing the rate at which food actually disappears from the plate, compared with an "ideal" graph programmed in by a food therapist.

Researchers at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and the University of Bristol, led by Professor Julian Hamilton-Shield, carried out a trial of 106 obese patients aged between nine and 17.

One group was given Mandometer "therapy" to lose weight while the other was provided with standard care.

If we ate fresh, nutritious food that we had cooked ourselves and then sat down to eat and enjoy our meals in a leisurely way - rather like the French do - then obesity problems would be non-existent. Professor Julian Hamilton-Shield

Both groups were encouraged to do 60 minutes of physical exercise a day and to eat a balanced diet based on the Food Standards Agency "eatwell plate".

Participants were checked after 12 months and followed up at 18 months while being regularly monitored and given advice and encouragement over the phone.

After 12 months, the researchers found, the Mandometer group not only had a significantly lower average body mass index but they ate less - and more slowly.

Levels of "good cholesterol" were also significantly higher in the Mandometer group.

The marked improvement was still in evidence six months after the end of treatment which indicated the people in the trial had changed their long-term behaviour.

Healthy school meals would help prevent obesity

"One of the reasons the Mandometer works is that people realise how quickly they are eating, and how much", Professor Hamilton-Shield told Sky News Online.

"The way that the body feels full is due to the food going into the stomach via the small intestine. From there, signals go to the hypothalmus - the part of the brain that deals with the senses and tells you you have eaten enough."

"If you eat too quickly, the small intestine doesn't have the time to let the hypothalmus know you're full."

Professor Hamilton-Shield blames the culture of fast food, eaten in front of the TV or the computer and a society that - from the top down - actively encourages speediness as a good thing.

"What our study shows is that if we ate fresh, nutritious food that we had cooked ourselves and then sat down to eat and enjoy our meals leisurely - rather like the French - then obesity problems would be non-existent."