According to a new study, serving super-sized portions of food or eating on larger plates make people eat more.
The Independent reports a University of Cambridge research says regularly serving food on smaller portions could reduce a person's food consumption to up to 16%.
Although this conclusion is obvious, Dr. Gareth Hollands at Cambridge's Behavior and Health Research Unit says this is to challenge most assumptions saying lack of self control is the only factor why people overeat.
"Helping people to avoid 'overserving' themselves or others with larger portions of food or drink by reducing their size, availability and appeal in shops, restaurants and in the home, is likely to be a good way of helping lots of people to reduce their risk of overeating," the co-author of the study said.
According to Public Health England chief nutritionist Dr Alison Tedstone, "given that almost two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese, it's important to keep an eye on portion sizes when cooking, shopping and eating out to avoid overeating and help maintain a healthy weight."
Various studies done previously also focused on the effect of the plate's size and color to a person's diet.
In one comparative study, the group who ate in larger bowls consumed 16% more cereal than those who ate in smaller bowls. During the interrogation, those who ate in larger bowls claimed they consumed 7% less than those who ate in smaller bowls - although findings suggest otherwise. Results show that eating on larger bowls or plates mislead a person's knowledge on the amount of food he or she consumed.
Meanwhile, another study conducted by Dr. Brian Wansink and Dr. Koert van Ittersum suggests that people who had pasta with tomato sauce on red plates or pasta with Alfredo sauce on white plates served themselves 22% more than those with high food-and-plate-color contrast.
Now this is how your plate actually affects your diet.
