nutrition size matters

8/3/2019 Nutrition Size Matters

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STRENG TH & CONDITIONING

Portion Distortion:Size Does Matter!By Ma tt Brzycki,Assistant Director of Campus Recreation, FittiessPrinceton University

Compare the food andtievprajTc olTerings insupermarktrLs and restau-lanis of today with thatol the piLSL iuid il will he readily apparent thai the size ol' the portions hasiticreascd substantially. Indeed , yester-day's "liuj^e" is loday's "meditiin."

.\s many researchers have indicatedthf iiitrea.se in ihe size of portions hasituire or less paralleU-d iht- increase inthe number ol people who are eitheroverweight or obese. And it s no coin-eidence that the jouruiil Ol/f.'iity gn-wliodi six issues and 509 jwges ui its fiislyear of publication in 1993 to 12 issuesand 2.;V22 pa^es in 2(IOti.When portion sizes are much larg-er than normal, it's referred to asportion distoriion." This "supcrsiz-ing" has skewed the perception ofwhat con.stitutes proper servings.Since huger-than-nornial portions areso ubiquitous, the iniplitation is thatUiey represen t appro priate .standardsor consum ption. Ultimately, portiondisioriion encourages people to eat

and drink more.A good bit of research ha.s goneinto poriioii distortion. Many of" thesiudk's paini a vivid poiLraii of thedynamics of pordon distortion andthe dramatic effect that it has on t>uieveryday lives,I-et's take a look at how it influences1 alorif intake along wilh several simte-

KICS tliiil our athletes c:ui use to helpthem cftntriid willi jjorlion distortion.WH AT TH E RESEARCH SAYSNumerous studies have shown Hialthe availability of largei" pot tiunsensures the ronsunnnation ol niorecalories. In a classic study, 51 subjectswere randomly assigned lo iwogroups: One grtiup received macaroni.md cheese on a plate and the othergroup rerei\ed macaroni and i heesein a large serving tlisli and then self-served the food onto their plates.

(>n flifterent days, tlie subjec

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STRENGTH & CONDITIONING Portion D is to rt io n

given four different pordon sizes forItinch (500, 625, 750, or 1,000 gra ms).When given the largesi portion offood, ihe subjecLs consumed nearly30% more calories compared to whengiven the smallest portion of food.

Also of note is that regardless of theamount of food that was consumed,their perceived ratings of hunger andsalieiy (fullness) didn't dilfer alter themeal. Perhaps even more telling wa.sthe fact that n5% of the suhie{ ts did n'tnotice any differences in the portionsthat were served.Without a doubi, portion si/e hasa direct and dramatic impact on tlienumber of calories that are consumed.This is particularly true in restaurantsettings. Most restauran ts offer a widevariety of low cost and large size foods.This comb ination is perceived as eco-nomical or a "value meal," but it hasthe p otential to be a dietary disaster.

Researchers cond ucted a study in apublic cafeteria-style restaurant on auniversity campus. On 10day.soveraperiod of five months, the researcherscoverdy recorded the food intake ofISO ctistomers who purchased aneruree of baked pasta in cheese saucefrom a .serving line at itinch.

On five of those days, die cus-Kuners received a standard portion{1'48 grams; 422 calories) and on ihefive other days, they received a large])ortion (377 grams; 633 calories).The two portions were served ondifferent days so tbat the customersnever saw both of them at the sametime. (The price of the entree was thesame for both portions.)The study found thai the size of theportion had a .significant effect on theiiuake of tbe entree. Those who pur-

< hased ihe large portion consumed4:i% moje of the entree and S.'i^more ofthe eiuire meal compared tothose who ptirchased the standardportion . The two girmp.s ol customersshowed no differences in their ratingsof the appropriateness of the portionsize or th e amo unt that thev ate in

comparison to their usual hnu h - aclear indication that they wereunawaie of portion distortion,II has been thought that tlieeffects ol portion size are specific tofoods thai don 't bave a distitid formor shape - such a.s macaroni andcheese - since this makes it all themore difficiili io judge po rtion size.1 he researchers have, however, investi-gated foods that were in clearlydefined packages.

In one ol these stttdies. 60 .subjectsreport ed to a laboratory on five differ-ent days to eat an afternoon snackand dinner.For the afternoon snack, the sub-jects were given one of live packages ofpotato chips (28, 42. 85, 128, or 170grams). They were instructed to eat asmuch or as litde as desired (direcllyfrom the packages of potato chips wereplain opaqtie bags of different dimen-sions). Three houi-s later, die subjectsreturned to the laboratory for a stan-dard dituicr. .^gain. they were instruct-ed to eat as much or as little as desired.

The researchers found that as thesize ofthe package increased, the stil>jects ate significantly more ofth esnack. As well, the subjects didn 'treduce their caloric intake at dinnerto compensate for the additional calo-ries from the snack. W]^en given thelargest packiige, die subjects con-sumed 142 more calories at snack anddinner combined.

Something else worthy of note: Theshape of a container distorts the per-ception of portion size. For example,people estimate that tall glasses holdmore liquids than wide glasses of thesame volume. As a result, people lendlo pour more (luids into short, wideglasses than tall, narrow on es.

Researchers alternately assigned198 college stud ents to two groups:One group did on e "practice pour"into a l.r)-outue "shot" glass beforethe actual potu ing and the t>thergroup did 10 "practice pours" beforethe actual pouring.

Half of tbe subjects were given tallslender gJa.sses and the other halfwere given short, wide gla.sses ofthesame volume (12ottnces). Their goawas to pour 1.5 ounces of fluid intotheir assigned glass. The sttidenLspoured M)'fo more tluid into theshort, wide glasses than into the tall,slender glasses.A related study involved 8fi bar-tendets in a university town who had6.. years of bartend ing experienc e.The bartenders were asked lo pour 1.5o\inces of alcohol into glasses as in dieprevicjus study. They did so after

either receiving no instructions orbeing toiri "please take your time."Although they were quite experi-enced in the task, the bartenders stillpoured 20.-)% more alcohol into theshort, wide gla.s.ses than the tall, slen-der glasses. The effect was redticed -but not eliminated - when they paidcareful attention.Remem ber that just as larger serv-ings of food increase caloric intake, sodo larger portions of caloric bever-ages. Because of this, the .size of a i)ev-

erage can have an impact oti theintake of total calories at a meal. On estitdy involved 33 stibjects from a imi-versity community.The stibjects ate lunch in a labora-lory once a week for six weeks. Eachlime, they received the same foodsbui the beverage varied in type (reg-ular cola, diet cola or water) andportion si/e (12 fluid ounces or 18fluid ounces).The subjeets could eat and drink as

much or as little as desired . It wasfound Lhat as the size of the beverageincrea.sed, so did the amount of thebeverage that was consutned.This fniding wasa true irrespectiveof the t)'pe of beverage that was served.\Mien the size ofthe caloric beverage(regular Coke) was increased from 12ounces to 1H ounces, the women con-sumed U)% more calories and themen consumed 2(j% more calories.The type or portion size of the bever-

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STRENGTH & CONDITIONING Portio n D is to rt ion

age didn 't produ ce a signifi( ant differ-ence in food intake , lint when thesubjects consumed the caloric bever-age, their intake of total calories (thefood plus die l)everage) was signifi-cantly greater than when they con-stimed the non-


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STRENGTH & CONDITIONING Portion D is to rt io n

WH AT TO DO?An acriiruulating body of scientificevidence has shown that pordon di.s-tortion encourages people to eat anddrink tnore. So what can be done totemper these insidious effects?For one tiling, pressure m ust bepui on the food iudusu y lo "reset" thestandards fbr portion sizes. In a nut-sliell. the food industry needs todownsize po rtions - not "supersize"

ibem - in order to rettirn to the dayswhen appropriate servings were avail-able as tangible choices for con-sumers.But what can be do ne by the athlet-ic community? At the grassroots level.ii'sol tttmosi impoilance for coachesiiMfi physical educators to serve as reli-able sources of information. Educateyour athletes and siudenis about por-lion sizes. Teach them to be on thelookout for porlion distortion andhow it infhrences caloric intake.Give your adiletes and students spe-cific tactics that they can employ intheir batile against portion di.siortion.For example, even if portions com e inlarger sizes, they can repackage ihelarger po rtions into smaller ones.in addition, suggest that they usesmaller plates, bowls, andgla.sses/cups. This will belj) ibem tolimil the size of portions an d, as aresult, lower the number of calories

that they consum e. It certainly makessense that if someone siriiplv decidesto eat an entire bowl of potato chips,for example, a smaller bowl wouldyield fewer calories than a larger bowl.Encourage yotir athletes and stu-dents to use tall, narrow glasses forbeverages or ones on wbi( h levels arepre-marked. This will help them toavoid overpouring. And when they'refaced with larger sizes of beverages,

recommend that they pmsue low-ornon-caloric option s.Portion dislortion is especiallvproblematic when jieople are distract-ed. In this case, they're even lessaware of differences In the si/e of por-tions. As such, inform your atliletesand students to be particularly vigilaniin social settings.Finally, portion disiortion can actu-ally be used to our advantage. Here'show; Some autliorities suggest usinglarger plates, bowls, and ghLs.se.s/cupsto increase the consum ption of lesspreferred healthful foods such asfruits and vegetables.

Mall Brzycki is the Assutani Director ofCampus Recreation, Fitness al PrincetonUniversity. He lias authored ., co-authored or edited 16 books, includingthe best seller Ehimbbcll Training forSirength and Fitness.

ReferenreKDiUberti N, PL Bordi, MT Coiiklin.

LS Roe and BJ Rolls. 2004. Increasedportion size leads to increa.sed enetieyintake in a restaurant meal. OltesityResearch 12 (3): 562-568.

Flood JE, IS Roe and BJ Rolls. 2006The effect of increased b eierag e portionsize on energy intake at a meal.Journatof the American Dietetic Association 106(12): 1984-1990.

Ledikwe JH, JA EIIo-Martin and BJRolls . 2005. Portion sizes and the oliesitepidemic. The Journal ofNutrition 135(4): 905-909.

Rolls BJ. LS Roe, JS Meengs and DEWall. 2004. Increasing the poition size oa sandwich increases e n e i ^ intake.

Journal of the American DieteticAs.3I): 1512-4.

Wansink B, and J Kim. 2005. Badpopcorn in big buckets; portion size caninfluence intake as much as UistK.JoumaofNutrition Education and Behavior 37(5): 242-245.

Wansink B. and MM Cheney. 2005.Super bowls: ser^'ing bowl size and foodconsumption. The Journal ofthe AmericanMedical Association 293 (14): 1727-1728.

Wansink B, JE Painter and J Nortli .2005. Bottomless bowls: why visual cuesof portion size may influence in take.Ohexity Research 13 (1); 93-100.

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nutrition size matters

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