Healthy dining: subtle diet reminders at the point of purchase increase low-calorie food choices among both chronic and current dieters

Papies, E. K. and Veling, H. (2013) Healthy dining: subtle diet reminders at the point of purchase increase low-calorie food choices among both chronic and current dieters. Appetite, 61, pp. 1-7. (doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2012.10.025) (PMID:23142564)

Abstract

There is a growing consensus that our food-rich living environment contributes to rising numbers of people with overweight and obesity. Low-cost, effective intervention tools are needed to facilitate healthy eating behavior, especially when eating away from home. Therefore, we present a field experiment in a restaurant that tested whether providing subtle environmental diet reminders increases low-calorie food choices among both chronic and current dieters. For half of the participants, the menu was supplemented with diet-related words, as reminders of healthy eating and dieting. We recorded customers’ choices of low-calorie or high-calorie items from the menu, and we assessed chronic and current dieting. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that diet reminders increased choices for low-calorie foods, among both chronic and current dieters. After a diet reminder, around half of dieters made a healthy menu choice. This study demonstrates the efficacy of providing subtle diet reminders as a low-cost practical intervention to increase low-calorie food choices among weight-concerned individuals, who are motivated to regulate their eating behavior but have been found to often fail in food-rich environments.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Papies, Dr Esther
• Authors: Papies, E. K., and Veling, H.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Psychology
• Journal Name: Appetite
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0195-6663
• ISSN (Online): 1095-8304