TY - JOUR
T1 - Unaware of the amount consumed
T2 - Systematic error in estimating food- and drink intake
AU - Lasschuijt, Marlou P
AU - Camps, Guido
AU - Koopman, Ylva
AU - Smeets, Paul A M
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement 607310 (Nudge-it). The authors declare no conflict of interest. We would like to thank Lianne Remie, Judith Scholing, Manouk van Zoggel and Maud Mulder for their help with data collection. In addition, we would like to thank J.M. Waalwijk for giving us the opportunity to collect data at the Betweter Science festival in Utrecht (The Netherlands, 2018). GC and MPL designed the study, GC, MPL, PAMS, YK, conducted the research, MPL, GC and YK performed statistical analysis; MPL,YK, GC, PAMS, wrote the paper, all authors agreed with the final version of the manuscript.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme ( FP7/2007–2013 ) under Grant Agreement 607310 (Nudge-it).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: Our current food environment promotes overconsumption due to the overrepresentation of foods that have a high calorie density and can be easily consumed. These food characteristics lead to limited oro-sensory exposure, which may lead to overconsumption due to insufficient perception of the amount consumed. Better perception of the amount eaten and thus a better ability to estimate intake may help control actual food intake through prolonged inter-meal interval and smaller meal sizes.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether food form, flavor and portion size influence the error in estimated intake (EiE).METHOD: Participants (n = 72) were recruited at a science festival where the study was also performed. The experiment had a 2 × 2 × 3 design with a reference condition. Experimental conditions differed in food form (liquid vs. solid stimuli), taste category (savory vs. sweet) and portion size (small, medium, large). Water was used as a reference condition.RESULTS: Participants overestimated the amount consumed of all stimuli. The overestimation was ten times greater for solid compared to liquid products (104 ± 12 vs 12 ± 9% overestimation) and was more pronounced for sweet (75 ± 9%) than for savory products (41 ± 12%). There was a trend for larger EiE% of smaller portions. No differences were found among the differently flavored liquids including the water reference.CONCLUSION: People overestimate the amount they consume of solid and sweet products more than that of liquid and savory products. This overestimation may be due to overvaluation of the oro-sensory stimulation when visual cues and intake effort are controlled for or because of learned associations. However, the uncontrolled setting of the experiment should be taken into account when drawing conclusions. Future research may replicate the study in a more controlled setting and should determine whether the overestimation of sweet solid product intake also leads to lower intake at a subsequent meal.
AB - BACKGROUND: Our current food environment promotes overconsumption due to the overrepresentation of foods that have a high calorie density and can be easily consumed. These food characteristics lead to limited oro-sensory exposure, which may lead to overconsumption due to insufficient perception of the amount consumed. Better perception of the amount eaten and thus a better ability to estimate intake may help control actual food intake through prolonged inter-meal interval and smaller meal sizes.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether food form, flavor and portion size influence the error in estimated intake (EiE).METHOD: Participants (n = 72) were recruited at a science festival where the study was also performed. The experiment had a 2 × 2 × 3 design with a reference condition. Experimental conditions differed in food form (liquid vs. solid stimuli), taste category (savory vs. sweet) and portion size (small, medium, large). Water was used as a reference condition.RESULTS: Participants overestimated the amount consumed of all stimuli. The overestimation was ten times greater for solid compared to liquid products (104 ± 12 vs 12 ± 9% overestimation) and was more pronounced for sweet (75 ± 9%) than for savory products (41 ± 12%). There was a trend for larger EiE% of smaller portions. No differences were found among the differently flavored liquids including the water reference.CONCLUSION: People overestimate the amount they consume of solid and sweet products more than that of liquid and savory products. This overestimation may be due to overvaluation of the oro-sensory stimulation when visual cues and intake effort are controlled for or because of learned associations. However, the uncontrolled setting of the experiment should be taken into account when drawing conclusions. Future research may replicate the study in a more controlled setting and should determine whether the overestimation of sweet solid product intake also leads to lower intake at a subsequent meal.
KW - Eating effort
KW - Food form
KW - Food intake
KW - Portion size estimation
KW - Visual cues
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068184791&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112591
DO - 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112591
M3 - Article
C2 - 31255647
SN - 0031-9384
VL - 209
JO - Physiology & Behavior
JF - Physiology & Behavior
M1 - 112591
ER -