Associations of eating speed with fat distribution and body shape vary in different age groups and obesity status

BACKGROUND: Eating speed has been reported to be associated with energy intake, body weight, waist circumference (WC), and total body fat. However, no study has explored the association between eating speed and body fat distribution, especially its difference among different age or body mass index (BMI) groups. METHODS: 4770 participants aged 18–80 years were recruited from the baseline survey of the Lanxi Cohort Study. They were categorized into three groups according to meal duration. Linear regression analyses were performed among all participants and separately by age group and obesity status to evaluate the associations of WC and total and regional fat mass percentages (FM%) with eating speed. RESULTS: After adjusting for confounding factors, eating slowly was significantly related to lower WC, lower total, trunk, and android FM%, lower android-to-gynoid fat mass ratio, and higher leg and gynoid FM%. After stratification by age or obesity status, the associations were especially prominent among participants aged 18–44 years or those with BMI < 24 kg/m(2). No significant trends were found for participants aged 65–80 years or those who were overweight/obese. CONCLUSIONS: Eating slowly is closely related with better fat distribution among Chinese adults, especially for those aged 18–44 years and those with BMI < 24 kg/m(2). If confirmed prospectively, it might be a potential efficient approach to improve fat distribution. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12986-022-00698-w.