Abstract
Food volume could influence both the portions that people take and the amount that
they eat, but these effects have had little investigation. The influence of food volume
was tested by systematically reducing the flake size of a breakfast cereal so that
the cereal was more compact and the same weight filled a smaller volume. In a crossover
design, 41 adults ate cereal for breakfast once a week for 4 weeks during 2011 and
2012. The cereal was either standard wheat flakes or the same cereal crushed to reduce
the volume to 80%, 60%, or 40% of the standard. A constant weight of cereal was provided
in an opaque container and participants poured the amount they wanted into a bowl,
added fat-free milk and noncalorie sweetener as desired, and consumed as much as they
wanted. Results from a mixed linear model showed that as flake size was reduced, subjects
poured a smaller volume of cereal, but still took a greater amount by weight and energy
content (both P values <0.0001). Despite these differences, subjects estimated that they had taken
a similar number of calories of all versions of the cereal. They ate most of the cereal
they took, so as flake size was reduced, breakfast energy intake increased from a
mean±standard error of the mean of 286±18 kcal to 358±19 kcal, an increase of a mean±standard
error of the mean 34%±7% (P<0.0001). These findings demonstrate that variations in food volume associated with
the size of a food's individual pieces affect the portion served, which in turn affects
energy intake.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and DieteticsAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
US Department of Agriculture. Food Groups Overview. ChooseMyPlate.gov. http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/. 2011. Accessed December 3, 2013.
US Department of Agriculture. What counts as a cup of vegetables? ChooseMyPlate.gov. http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/vegetables_counts_table.html. 2011. Accessed December 3, 2013.
US Department of Agriculture. What counts as an ounce equivalent of grains? ChooseMyPlate.gov. http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/grains_counts_table.html. 2011. Accessed December 3, 2013.
- Dietary strategies for weight management.in: Drewnowski A. Rolls B.J. Nestlé Nutrition Institute Workshop Series, Vol. 73: Obesity Treatment and Prevention: New Directions. S. Karger, Basel, Switzerland2012: 37-48
- Portion size and the obesity epidemic.in: Cawley J. The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity—The Causes and Correlates of Diet, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK2011: 367-384
- Dietary strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity.Proc Nutr Soc. 2010; 69: 70-79
- Properties of foods and beverages that influence energy intake and body weight.in: Coulston A.M. Boushey C.J. Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease. 2nd ed. Elsevier Academic Press, London, UK2008: 469-481
- The effect of large portion sizes on energy intake is sustained for 11 days.Obesity. 2007; 15: 1535-1543
- Volume of food consumed affects satiety in men.Am J Clin Nutr. 1998; 67: 1170-1177
- Incorporation of air into a snack food reduces energy intake.Appetite. 2007; 48: 351-358
- Increasing the volume of a food by incorporating air affects satiety in men.Am J Clin Nutr. 2000; 72: 361-368
- The three-factor eating questionnaire to measure dietary restraint, disinhibition, and hunger.J Psychosom Res. 1985; 29: 71-83
- Reproducibility, power and validity of visual analogue scales in assessment of appetite sensations in single test meal studies.Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000; 24: 38-48
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 25. http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/ndl/. Accessed June 7, 2013.
- Visual perception of portion size.Ecol Food Nutr. 2008; 47: 126-134
- Visual perception of portion size.J Culinary Sci Technol. 2009; 7: 250-256
- The Mechanisms of Perception.Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, England1969
- Vital dimensions in volume perception: Can the eye fool the stomach?.J Market Res. 1999; 36: 313-326
- Environmental factors that increase the food intake and consumption volume of unknowing consumers.Annu Rev Nutr. 2004; 24: 455-479
- Container size influences snack food intake independently of portion size.Appetite. 2012; 58: 814-817
- Ice cream illusions bowls, spoons, and self-served portion sizes.Am J Prev Med. 2006; 31: 240-243
- Perceived volume, expected satiation, and the energy content of self-selected meals.Appetite. 2010; 55: 25-29
- What determines real-world meal size? Evidence for pre-meal planning.Appetite. 2011; 56: 284-289
Biography
B. J. Rolls is a professor and Helen A. Guthrie Chair, Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Biography
J. S. Meengs is a laboratory manager, Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Biography
L. S. Roe is a research nutritionist, Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 19, 2014
Accepted:
January 21,
2014
Footnotes
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT This research was supported by grants DK059853 and DK039177 from the National Institutes of Health.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
