A recent study conducted by researchers at Penn State found that the size of a snack not only affects how quickly a person consumes it, but also how much they eat. Given that almost 25% of daily calorie intake in the United States comes from snacks, these findings could have implications for helping individuals comprehend how their eating habits impact their calorie and sodium consumption.
From snacks, these findings may have implications for helping people better understand how eating behavior impacts calorie and sodium intake.
The team of food scientists looked into how the size of pretzels affects eating behavior, including overall intake, eating rate, bite size, and snacking duration. They discovered that people consume larger pretzels more quickly with larger bites. They also found that while people ate smaller pretzels more slowly and with smaller bites, resulting in overall lower consumption, they still had higher sodium intake. Their results are available online now and will be published in the June issue of Appetite.
Seventy-five adults took part in the study, where they consumed snacks at three different times in the Sensory Evaluation Center. The snacks were oversized pretzels equivalent to about 2.5 servings, with three different sizes available – small, medium, or large. The researchers used video recordings to calculate the rate of eating and the size of each bite during the snacking sessions. They recorded the amount of time each participant spent snacking and the number of bites taken. Additionally, they measured the weight and calories of the snacks consumed by each participant.
It was found that when participants were given the same amount of food, the amount they consumed in both weight and calories depended on the size of the pretzel, with participants consuming different amounts based on the size of the pretzel.The study found that people ate 31% more of the large pretzels compared to the small pretzels, and 22% more than the medium sized pretzels. The size of the pretzel also had an impact on eating rate and bite size, as the largest pretzels resulted in the fastest eating rate and the largest mean bite size.
The researchers also discovered that, once eating behavior was taken into account, the size of the pretzel alone did not significantly affect how much a person ate. This suggests that the different pretzel sizes prompted different eating behaviors, driving the total intake. The results indicate that larger pretzel size encourages people to eat more quickly and take bigger bites.
Overall, these findings indicate that pretzel size has a significant impact on eating behavior and intake.This study indicates that the size of a unit can impact how much people eat by influencing their eating behavior. John Hayes, who is a professor of food science and the director of the Penn State Sensory Evaluation Center, explained that food characteristics such as unit size can be used to control snack intake. He also stated that the structure of food, including its texture, size, and shape, can be manipulated to regulate eating behavior and food intake. Specifically, the size of units in snack foods can be particularly useful for this purpose. The researchers are interested in how the physical properties of foods can be utilized to help people consume less without affecting their enjoyment.
Madeline Harper, a graduate student in food science and the lead author of the study, observed a previously unnoticed connection between the size of pretzels and sodium consumption. She pointed out that consuming more smaller pretzels could lead to higher sodium intake. The researchers hypothesized that the smaller size of the pretzels means that there is more surface area for the same weight, resulting in more total salt on the surface. Therefore, it is likely that a snacker would consume more sodium by eating smaller pretzels.
“So, we’re suggesting that if you’re trying to watch your calorie intake or are trying to reduce the amount that you’re eating in a sn rnrnPaige Cunningham, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Food Science and the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State, and Ciaran Forde, a professor and chair in Sensory Science and Eating Behavior Group in the Division of Nutrition, at W stated, “If you are concerned about how fast you eat, then perhaps a smaller pretzel would be more suitable for you, as the size of the pretzel directly affects your eating pace. However, if you are more concerned about high blood pressure or the amount of sodium you are consuming, then the larger pretzel might be a better option, as you will consume less sodium overall, even though you may be consuming more grams of pretzel.”Wageningen University contributed to the research. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture supported this research.
