A new survey released today reveals 5 out of 10 adults wolf down their meals because they are too busy to enjoy them. Breakfast is gulped down in six minutes, lunch in eight and dinner in nine resulting in serious digestive problems.

It seems eating is taking a back seat to make way for our hectic lives. Office lunch breaks are a thing of the past with a huge 75% cent admitting they eat one or more meals at their desk. The study also found a third of people barely even notice the food which passes their lips.

Almost 30 % attribute their digestive problems to stress whilst 41% believe it is because they are eating too quickly and not taking the time to chew their food properly.

The report by Conscious Food, creators of natural digestive remedy D’Mix states that 45% wish they had more time to sit down and eat their food slowly. As a result of wolfing down their food almost 75% said they suffered from some kind of digestive ailment.

We are joined by Dr Sarah Brewer, and the founder of Conscious Food, Kristina Locke, who will be revealing more about our nation’s eating habits, giving advice on how to improve the manner in which we eat and explain how we could resolve our digestive health problems.

The interview on behalf of PatientTalk was conducted by Feven Iyassu

Iyassu: British people spend less than half an hour wolfing down their three meals a day. Joining us on Patient Talk is Dr Sarah Brewer and Kristina Locke, good morning.

Brewer & Locke : Hello

IYASSU: Welcome. So what sort of medical problems can be caused by eating too fast?

DR BREWER Well I think we all know that when we bolt our food down, we’re more prone to indigestion. You’ve got food that’s arriving in the stomach not properly broken down; the stomach has to work harder to get it down into a dissolved state. The food stays in the stomach longer, so you get bloating, heartburn, indigestion and we probably end up eating too much as a result.

IYASSU: Why do think these days people eat too fast?

DR BREWER Well a recent survey on behalf of Conscious Foods found that for most people were eating quickly in order to get on with the rest of their life. Now I have some sympathy for those that are trying to hurry meals through so that they can help the children with homework or so they can take the children to after school activities. But sadly a lot of people are simply eating quickly, finishing meals quickly so they can get back to work. So they can go and check their emails, get on their iPhones and really just slow down on what should be a nice family activity in order to go back to work.

IYASSU: We’re always told breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Why is this?

DR BREWER Well breakfast is important because it’s when we get our nutrition after an overnight fast. We might not have eaten for about twelve hours, so all the stores of energy that have been used up from the liver for example and so we’re running on empty. Unless we eat the proper food, our blood glucose levels are going to go a bit low, we’re going to have an energy slump and won’t be able to work and think properly throughout the rest of the morning. And yet some people don’t eat breakfast and expect their body and brain to work right through until lunchtime after perhaps sixteen or seventeen hours of no nutrition.

IYASSU: What type of things should we be eating for breakfast?

DR BREWER Well a number of research studies suggest that a good carbohydrate source is excellent for breakfast, but something that doesn’t release the energy too quickly. So for example muesli or porridge would be great, have perhaps some fruit with that, some juice or some fresh fruit on top of the cereal. You can then follow that up with some yoghurt, you could have a smoothie. Just make sure you’re having something because too many people don’t have breakfast.

IYASSU: Kristina, what is D’Mix and how does it work?

LOCKE D’Mix is the first ever natural digestive aid that focuses actually on the importance of chewing.  It’s a blend of eight natural state herbs and seeds including fennel, liquorice, sesame, flaxseeds so these are all well-known traditional digestive herbs and seeds. The idea with it is you basically chew half a teaspoon after your breakfast, lunch and dinner and really we want to chew a minimum of forty times so you really activate your saliva glands. You kick start the release of the digestive enzymes and juices and you break everything down.  It is an ideal digestive aid because it focusses us on one of the most important parts of the digestive process which is the chewing which our survey shows that many people do not do.

IYASSU: What was the survey methodology and what were the results?

LOCKE So the survey methodology was carried out by 72Point last week amongst a panel of two thousand respondents and obviously we asked a number of different questions relating to the amount of time they spent on meals.  The average person consumed all three meals in a total of only twenty-three minutes.  So that breakfast in six minutes, lunch in eight and dinner in nine and what was really interesting out of that 73% of people suffer from digestive issues of some sort.  With 40% of these people admitting that it is a direct result of eating too quickly. The other key finding as well was that 73% of respondents have the same food for breakfast every day and also the same food for lunch.

IYASSU: Where can people go for more information?

LOCKE Well we have created our whole awareness campaign in a new website called www.justchewit.net and you can find all sorts of tips for improving digestive health, focussing on the importance of chewing, mindful eating, some recipe tips, ideas and some other interesting facts and figures and that’s all on www.justchewit.net

IYASSU: Perfect, thank you Christina and Dr Sarah for joining us on Patient Talk.

BREWER & LOCKE Thank you