Downing meals quickly and eating until that last button pops can significantly increase your risk of being overweight, a new study out of Japan has found.

Researchers at the Graduate School of Medicine at Osaka University learned that women who ate both quickly and until they felt full were nearly 58 per cent more likely to become overweight.

The patterns were similar in men. Those who ate quickly and until they felt stuffed showed an almost 52 per cent greater risk of being overweight.

Results also showed that people with just one of these poor eating habits also increased their risk of developing an unhealthy body weight, but to a lesser degree.

There are many possible reasons for the correlation between fast eaters who eat big meals and overweight bodies, according to the study. Two suggestions include:

• A higher calorie intake
• Increased resistance to insulin

Researchers studied questionnaires filled out by more than 3,650 adults over the age of 30 living in two Japanese communities -- one rural and one suburban.

The participants were asked whether, over the past month, they ate until feeling full with a "yes" or "no" response.

Subjects were also asked to describe the speed at which they ate according to one of five categories: very slow, slow, medium, fast and very fast.

Self-reported eating speeds were verified with speeds reported by friends of the participants.

The scientists involved in the study suggest the trends observed in Japan are transferable to Western populations as well.

The study used the standard body mass index as a benchmark for determining overweight bodies and researchers took factors such as age, body type and activity level into account.

Participants with a history of cardiovascular disease were excluded from the study.

The findings were published in the British Medical Journal.