How big is a food portion? A pilot study in Australian families

Abstract

Issues addressed: It is not known whether individuals can accurately estimate the portion size of foods usually consumed relative to standard serving sizes in national food selection guides. The aim of the present cross-sectional pilot study was to quantify what adults and children deem a typical portion for a variety of foods and compare these with the serving sizes specified in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE). Methods: Adults and children were independently asked to serve out their typical portion of 10 common foods (rice, pasta, breakfast cereal, chocolate, confectionary, ice cream, meat, vegetables, soft drink and milk). They were also asked to serve what they perceived a small, medium and large portion of each food to be. Each portion was weighed and recorded by an assessor and compared with the standard AGHE serving sizes. Results: Twenty-one individuals (nine mothers, one father, 11 children) participated in the study. There was a large degree of variability in portion sizes measured out by both parents and children, with means exceeding the standard AGHE serving size for all items, except for soft drink and milk, where mean portion sizes were less than the AGHE serving size. The greatest mean overestimations were for pasta (155%; mean 116 g; range 94-139 g) and chocolate (151%; mean 38 g; range 25-50 g), each of which represented approximately 1.5 standard AGHE servings. Conclusion:The findings of the present study indicate that there is variability between parents' and children's estimation of typical portion sizes compared with national recommendations.So what? Dietary interventions to improve individuals' dietary patterns should target education regarding portion size.

The influence of front‐of‐pack nutrition information on consumers’ portion size perceptions

“…However, findings of the current study do support research by Collins et al, 10 which found that self-selected portion sizes of common foods vary from the recommended serving sizes specified in the AGHE, as significant differences were found in the self-selected discretionary food portions compared with the AGHE standard serving size. Hunger levels were measured on a 6-point scale (1 = not hungry at all; 6 = very hungry).…”

“…The study found that means exceeded the standard AGHE serving sizes for all items tested, except for soft drink and milk, where mean portion sizes were less than the AGHE serving size. 10 Further, how healthy consumers perceive a product to be can lead to a biased view of the product's energy density and can also influence the portion size consumed. 11 Provencher et al 11 found that study participants consumed 35% more cookies that were perceived as healthy compared with cookies believed to be unhealthy.…”

ServAR: An augmented reality tool to guide the serving of food

“…laboratory-based) and free-living settings are needed before the true utility of ServAR can be determined. Secondly, the accuracy of the ServAR tool for estimating varying portion sizes of the same foods needs to be established, as variations exist in the perceptions along the continuum of portion size from ‘small’ to ‘large’ [45]. However, this was the first study to systematically test an AR tool requiring minimal on-screen user interaction is comparison to standard serving sizes in a large sample.…”

Nutrients for Money: The Relationship between Portion Size, Nutrient Density and Consumer Choices

“…Consumers lack nutritional knowledge and skills to identify appropriate portion sizes and make healthy food choices [22,23]. To overcome these barriers the European Commission proposed the concept of nutrition profiling, which categorises foods based on their nutritional composition [24].…”