Can “Low-Fat” Nutrition Labels Lead to Obesity?

Wansink, Brian; Chandon, Pierre

doi:10.1509/jmkr.43.4.605

Cited by 605 publications

(590 citation statements)

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“…The present results are consistent with emerging literature demonstrating that a pictorial representation of products appearing on packaging affects serving size (15)(16)(17) . Given the suggestion that increased portion sizes contribute to the obesity epidemic (5) , these results have important implications for policy officials.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Frosting on the cake: pictures on food packaging bias serving size

Brand¹,

Wansink²,

Cohen³

2016

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: Food packaging often pictures supplementary extras, such as toppings or frosting, that are not listed on the nutritional labelling. The present study aimed to assess if these extras might exaggerate how many calories † are pictured and if they lead consumers to overserve. Design: Four studies were conducted in the context of fifty-one different cake mixes. For these cake mixes, Study 1 compared the calories stated on the nutrition label with the calories of the cake (and frosting) pictured on the box. In Studies 2, 3 and 4, undergraduates (Studies 2 and 3) or food-service professionals (Study 4) were given one of these typical cake mix boxes, with some being told that cake frosting was not included on the nutritional labelling whereas others were provided with no additional information. They were then asked to indicate what they believed to be a reasonable serving size of cake. Settings: Laboratory setting. Subjects: Undergraduate students and food-service professionals. Results: Study 1 showed that the average calories of cake and frosting pictured on the package of fifty-one different cake mixes exceed the calories on the nutritional label by 134 %. Studies 2 and 3 showed that informing consumers that the nutritional information does not include frosting reduces how much people serve. Study 4 showed that even food-service professionals overserve if not told that frosting is not included on the nutritional labelling. Conclusions: To be less misleading, packaging should either not depict extras in its pictures or it should more boldly and clearly state that extras are not included in calorie counts. Keywords Food packaging Calories Serving size Nutritional information Portion sizeNutritional labels are designed to promote healthy food choices and serving sizes (1) . However, 70 % of consumers routinely ignore these labels (2,3) , causing researchers to question to their effectiveness (4) . This is particularly troubling for serving size. Although large serving sizes contribute to obesity (5) , consumers still tend to ignore serving size information and serve larger portions than recommended (6) . If labels do not drive serving sizes, what does? Consumers are heavily influenced by external cues in their environment when deciding how much to eat (7) : they are influenced by what they believe as convenient, attractive and normal to serve (8) . What people consider a normal portion may be partly influenced by the manufacturer (9) . One of the most salient cues is the size of packaging from which a person serves himself or herself. This effect is often referred to as the 'pack size effect' and is characterized by the fact that large packages cause consumers to consume more of a product they serve themselves or of a product for which an exaggerated portion has been provided (10,11) . The pack size effect has been demonstrated with both meal-and snack-related foods (12) , and also with stale foods. In a study of moviegoers in a Philadelphia suburb, those who were given a large-sized bucket of stale, ...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Frosting on the cake: pictures on food packaging bias serving size

Brand¹,

Wansink²,

Cohen³

2016

Public Health Nutr.

Self Cite

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“…"2 grams") amount format where the information is visible at the consumption following exposure to a nutritional label has been objectively measured, 23 overall consumption has been found sometimes to decrease (Roberto, these moderating effects are not consistently found with contrasting evidence suggesting no 6 moderating effects of BMI (Temple, et al, 2011) on consumption of products where a label 7 indicated that food items were either a more or less healthy choice. i. a low fat label is associated with greater consumption of the labelled product 29 ii. a high fat label is associated with lower consumption of the labelled product.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Possible selection bias was minimised by providing interviewers 29 with minimal information about the study (i.e. just general information about the study with no reference to study hypotheses) and instructing them to approach all who passed by.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 27 addition we could not assess whether individuals might compensate for their popcorn 28 consumption by eating more or less at subsequent meals. However, given the impossibility 29 of testing the impact of multiple labelling formats across multiple situations, carefully 30 controlled studies such as this allow high quality evidence to inform systematic reviews and 1 meta-analyses from which widely applicable conclusions can be drawn.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The impact of nutritional labels and socioeconomic status on energy intake. An experimental field study

et al. 2014

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“…However, if satisfying the health goal makes people feel hungry, we expect that they should be hungrier than when they do not eat anything. This effect of healthy eating would not reflect a logical inference that eating healthy food has lower calorie content and therefore is less fulfilling (Kozup, Creyer, and Burton 2003;Wansink and Chandon 2006), but rather, this effect would suggest that imposed eating healthy makes people hungrier than not eating anything.…”

Section: The Impact Of External Controlsmentioning

confidence: 95%

When Healthy Food Makes You Hungry

Fishbach¹

2008

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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Do subtle cues for imposed healthy eating make consumers hungry? Imposed healthy eating signals that the health goal was sufficiently met, and thus it increases the strength of the conflicting motive to fulfill one's appetite. Accordingly, consumers asked to sample an item framed as healthy later reported being hungrier and consumed more food than those who sampled the same item framed as tasty or those who did not eat at all. These effects of healthy eating depend on the consumer's perception that healthy eating is mandatory; therefore, only imposed healthy eating made consumers hungrier, whereas freely choosing to eat healthy did not increase hunger.E xternally imposed controls are common and help individuals adhere to their long-term interests. Thus, mandatory retirement savings, seat belt laws, compulsory physical education in college, and cafeterias that offer only healthy alternatives-all are common examples of how external controls help individuals resolve the internal conflict between options that offer larger but delayed benefits and those that offer lesser but immediate benefits. But, when external constraints lead individuals to adhere to their long-term interests, how does this influence the resultant strength of the compromised short-term interest?We explore this question in the domain of imposed healthy eating. We ask, for example, how having a healthy meal in a cafeteria that offers only healthy alternatives influences the motive to satisfy one's appetite. In particular, we examine how imposed healthy eating influences individuals' experienced hunger. We propose that because adherence to the health goal under externally imposed controls signals that progress has been made without also increasing the sense of personal commitment, it can ironically increase the strength of the competing motive to satisfy one's appetite afterward. Put simply, imposed healthy eating would make people feel hungrier than not eating at all or eating the same food without an emphasis on its healthiness. We further propose that this effect of imposed healthy eating is more pronounced among individuals who are less concerned with watching their diet, Stacey Finkelstein (sfinkels@chicagobooth.edu) is a doctoral candidate and Ayelet Fishbach (ayelet.fishbach@chicagobooth.edu) is professor of behavioral science and marketing at

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Can “Low-Fat” Nutrition Labels Lead to Obesity?

Cited by 605 publications

References 50 publications

Frosting on the cake: pictures on food packaging bias serving size

Frosting on the cake: pictures on food packaging bias serving size

The impact of nutritional labels and socioeconomic status on energy intake. An experimental field study

When Healthy Food Makes You Hungry

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