The double burden of malnutrition refers to the co-occurrence of overweight and obesity and undernutrition. Eating quickly has been linked to overweight and obesity. However, no study has examined the association between eating speed and undernutrition. This retrospective, cross-sectional study analyzed data from 3529 community-dwelling residents. Eating speed was divided into three categories: fast, medium, and slow. Undernutrition was defined as body mass index (BMI) of <18.5 kg/m2 in adults aged < 70 years (adults) and as <20 kg/m2 in adults aged ≥ 70 years (older adults), in accordance with the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition criteria for Asians. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between eating speed and undernutrition. Among adult men, compared with eating quickly, eating slowly was associated with elevated prevalence of undernutrition (odds ratio (OR) 9.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.32–40.51, p = 0.001). Among older adult women, the prevalence of undernutrition in the slow-eating group was higher than that in the fast-eating group (OR 3.82, 95% Cl 1.51–9.69, p = 0.005). Eating slowly is independently associated with the prevalence of undernutrition among community-dwelling adult men and older adult women in Japan.

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