Many a woman has watched in disbelief as their partner inhales their food minutes after sitting down to dinner.

許多女性看到自己的伴侶坐下幾分鐘便把飯菜統統吞下時都感到不可置信。

Now Korean researchers have discovered why: men and women actually chew differently.

如今，韓國研究人員發現了其中的原因：原來男性和女性咀嚼的方式不同。

Men take larger, more powerful bites - meaning they finish eating more quickly - while women chew each individual mouthful more times - taking longer to finish eating their meal.

男性每一口吃的更多，而且嚼得更有力，這意味著他們吃得會更快；而女性每一口咀嚼的次數更多，因此也就需要更長的時間才能把東西吃完。

The researchers recruited 24 male and 24 female undergraduates from the Semyung University in South Korea, where they are based.

來自韓國世明大學的研究人員從本校的本科生中招募了24名男性和24名女性作為研究對象。

In order to analyze each individual’s chewing pattern, they hooked electrodes up to their jaws and fed them 152g of boiled white rice.

為了分析每位研究對象的咀嚼方式，研究人員把電極掛在受試者的下頜，并讓他們每個人都吃下152克的白米飯。

They documented the size of people’s bites, total chewing time per mouthful of food, total number of chews and how long it took the person to eat the entire meal.

他們記錄下了受試者每一口的食量大小、每一口飯咀嚼的時間總長、咀嚼的總次數和吃完整頓飯所要花的時間。

There was a large variation between men and women on every parameter, they found.

他們發現每一個參數上男女差異都很大。

Men typically take larger bites with more ‘chewing power’, which means they consume their meal more quickly than women.

男性通常每一口吃得更多，嚼得也更有力，所以他們吃飯吃得更快。

Though women were found to have the same chewing pace as men, they chewed each mouthful more times, slowing down the total time it took them to eat their meal.

盡管女性咀嚼的速度和男性一樣，但是女性每一口飯的咀嚼次數更多，所以她們吃飯就吃得更慢。

The study was published in the January issue of the Physiology and Behaviour journal.

這項研究刊登在一月份的《生理學與行為》期刊上。

It flies in the face of an earlier study, by researchers at Nippon Dental University in Tokyo, Japan, which found no difference in how the sexes chewed gum.

這項研究公然挑戰了之前來自東京的日本牙科大學研究人員得出的結論，后者發現男女咀嚼口香糖的方式并無不同。

Cary Cooper, professor of organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University said there was not only a difference in how the sexes chew, but between different types of people.

蘭卡斯特大學組織心理學與健康學教授卡里亞?庫伯稱，不僅男女之間，而且不同類型的人之間也存在食物咀嚼方式的差異。

People with ‘type A’ personalities - typically fast moving, impatient and ambitious people - tend to eat quickly.

A型性格的人一般行動迅速、沒有耐心而且雄心勃勃，吃飯也吃得比較快。

Conversely, ‘type B’ characters - who are generally more laid back, considered and approach things at a slower pace - will relish their mealtimes.

相反地，B型性格的人普遍更加隨和、深思熟慮、行事緩慢，吃飯也就細嚼慢咽。

His observation comes after actress and model Gwyneth Paltrow, revealed during her 20s she followed a macrobiotic diet, during which chewed her food at least 50 times per swallow.

庫伯得出這樣的觀察之前，演員、模特格溫妮絲?帕特洛曾透露在她20-30歲之間，她一度堅持過長壽飲食，期間她每吃一口食物至少會咀嚼50次。

This was thought to aid digestion, and means the stomach sends signals to the brain indicating it is satisfied, making a person feel fuller sooner, and eat less calories overall.

這種方法被認為有助于消化，會讓胃向大腦發出表示滿足的信號，這樣人就更容易感到飽，攝入的卡路里也就更少。

On average, it is said we chew 800 to 1,400 times a day.

平均來說，我們每個人據稱每天需要咀嚼800到1400次。

But Dr Nick Read, chief medical adviser for charity The IBS Network, said a change in our diet means we don't need to chew as often as in the past.

但是慈善機構The IBS Network首席醫學顧問尼克?里德博士卻表示，飲食的變化意味著我們不必再像從前一樣吃東西嚼那么多次了。

He said: ‘The Victorians thought you needed to chew food 14 times but we generally wait until it feels right and then swallow - it’s intuitive.’

他說：“維多利亞時期的人認為一口食物得嚼14次才行，但我們現在只要嚼到自己覺得可以了便將食物吞下，這是一種本能。”

But because our diet has become softer, thanks to all that processed food, we now don’t need to chew for so long.

但多虧了加工食品的出現，我們的食物變得更軟了，因此我們吃東西也不必再嚼那么長時間了。

However, raw fruit and vegetables, and meat, demand more chewing.

然而，新鮮水果、蔬菜和肉類需要更多的咀嚼。

Dr Read said: ‘If you don’t, lumps of food will pass through your digestive system and not be completely absorbed.'

里德博士說：“如果嚼得不夠的話，成塊的食物便會直接通過你的消化系統，從而不能被身體完全吸收。”

Vocabulary

wolf down: 狼吞虎咽

inhale: 吸入

variation: 變化

parameter: 參數

laid-back: 安詳的

（譯者：實習生陳思迪 編輯：侯瑋萍）