Eating Occasion

Eating Occasion. A study by Rolls et al. tested how adults responded to meals on different days of four different portion sizes of macaroni and cheese. They found that the bigger the portion, the more participants ate.  Participants consumed 30% more energy (162 cal) when offered the largest portion (1000g) compared to the smallest portion (500g). They also reported similar ratings of hunger and fullness after each meal despite the intake differences.  After the study, only 45% of the subjects reported noticing that there were differences in the size of the portions served. 

Another study by Rolls et al. gave the same subjects different size sandwiches on several occasions to look at the effect on energy intake of increasing the portion size of a food served as a discrete unit (sandwich). Men and women who were offered different size (6-, 8-, 10-, and 12­inch) sub sandwiches for lunch on four different days ate significantly more as the size of the sandwich offered became larger.  A study by Diliberti et al. in a restaurant setting showed that when a pasta entrée was served in different portion sizes on different days, people ate larger amounts when they were given larger portions.

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