That's why when I see a Hacker News thread posting a journalistic report about some preliminary scientific study, I link to Peter Norvig on how to read research
http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html
for the HN newcomers who haven't read this excellent article yet.
Best article I've read in a long time. That was amazing. I wish I could vote this comment up many times so that other people are sure to see it - I feel much, much more informed as a result of reading that.
Thank you.
Quote: "Conclusions: Retraining eating behaviour with a feedback device is a useful adjunct to standard lifestyle modification in treating obesity among adolescents."
I have not read the whole article though, and some cautious scepticism is required as the authors seem to have commercial interests in the results :)
But it is almost zero cost method, so I said why not give it a go.
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The researchers have found a statistical link. What they haven't yet done is design a controlled experiment whose outcome is predicted by this apparent correlation and then done the experiment.
A UK nutrition expert says that problems in signalling systems which tell the body when to stop eating may be partly responsible. [emphasis mine]
He said deliberately slowing down at mealtimes might impact on weight. [emphasis mine]
Australian researchers ... said that a mechanism that helps make us fat today may, until relatively recently, have been an evolutionary advantage, helping us grab more food when resources were scarce. [What mechanism? No mechanism has been proposed.]
Dr Jason Halford ... said: "What the Japanese research shows is that individual differences in eating behaviour underlie over-consumption of food and are linked to obesity." [No, it showed there is a statistical link. Perhaps people who tend to be overweight have a drive to eat quickly.]
"Other research has found evidence of this in childhood, suggesting that it could be inherited or learned at a very early age." [What other evidence? No hint of references given, so we can't find out for ourselves.]
... there was no evidence yet that trying to slow down mealtimes for children would have an impact on future obesity rates. [So the one piece of experimental procedure that might really confirm this either hasn't been done, or doesn't support the conclusion.]
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Having said all that, when I lost weight recently I worked hard on eating more slowly, and I do feel that it helped me feel less hungry on my 1600 kCal/day "diet". My own experience would support the claims, but that's just anecdote.
It's not science, and neither is what the article reports. It's typical media.