Struggling to lose weight? Eat slowly!

Not only are they more likely to be accused of being a pig at the dinner table, but people who wolf down their food are actually more likely to be overweight, researchers in Japan have discovered.

According to researchers at the University of Osaka, women who ate quickly were twice as likely to be above the ideal weight than people who savour their food.

Among men, fast eaters were 84 per cent more likely to be portly.

Professor Hiroyasu Iso, who led the study, said this is due to hormones not being able to get feedback to the brain quickly enough when someone is eating too quickly.

"If you eat slowly then there is some feedback from the brain that this is enough and this helps stop you eating before you are full," he remarked.

It could be that the growing number of people eating their meals on the hoof or in front of the television is to blame for part of the increase in obesity seen in the UK in recent years.

In related news, a recent survey carried out by LighterLife found that 46 per cent of respondents have referred to or thought of an overweight person by a derogatory name.

Nine out of ten overweight people were found to have suffered this kind of abuse.