Researchers from China reveal that higher unit number of foods prevents overeating!

The feeling of having eaten enough is what stops an individual from continuing to eat. Researchers from China conducted an experiment and showed that cutting food up into pieces and spreading on the plate can prevent overeating and hence aid in weight loss.

Researchers from China and their simple hack to reduce overeating

To shed extra pounds could be difficult for some people. They tend to overeat and cannot resist the food cravings. A feeling of fullness does not necessarily help you to stop eating. But it is the feeling of having eaten enough that makes you cease to eat further. Hence in order to curb overeating of junk foods, researchers from China have experimented with a simple hack.

They cut up the food into smaller pieces and spread them on a plate. This helped the recruits to eat less and thus lose weight. Experts say that it is the portion size that determines the amount a person eats and not the feeling of fullness.

The experiment details

The Chinese scientists recruited a few dozen volunteers for this study. There were 34 recruits with an average age of 20 years. These recruits were shown 60 pictures of chocolate each. These pictures had the same quantity of chocolate but the layout was different. There were ten quantities from 60 grams to 200 grams but spread out in different ways. They were either kept together like a bar or were separated with gaps.

The findings published in the journal Food Quality and Preference suggested that recruits thought that they were seeing more chocolates when they were spread out rather than clumped together. They felt that 16 pieces were more quantity than nine pieces of the chocolate though both were weighing same, 100 grams. The authors said:

“A larger unit number increases the perception of overall portion size,”

These scientists from the Shaanxi Normal University in Xi’an feel that this experiment might help people to overcome their instinct to overeat. People judge weight by number size. And they think that the weight is more when the pieces are spread out rather than kept together. The research team said:

‘More overall portion size is perceived when the units are separated than gathered,’

“The results provide practical guidance for nudging less consumption to reduce the risk of people eating larger portions unconsciously.”

The experts add that this trick is similar to the red plate hack to make a person eat less.

What is the red plate trick for eating less?

Dr Charles Spence, professor at the University of Oxford devised the red plate trick. He champions gastrophysics and states that the red color of the meal plates lead to a danger signal. And it subconsciously makes the person eat less. This logic is similar to that of the above Chinese experiment.

The red plate trick is used for over a decade now to trick people into eating less and thus causing weight loss.

Also, read Healthier snacks to beat the global obesity epidemic!

Obesity is a global health epidemic. In the UK, two-thirds of over 16 year old have extra weight for age. And in the ten to eleven year old age group, thirty percent of the kids are obese. Even in the USA, 66 percent of adults have excessive body weight. It precipitates metabolic disorders and leads to heart ailments and other chronic health conditions.