Disease Proof

You see those 100-calorie packs everywhere. Apparently they’re supposed to help you snack healthfully, but, new research has determined that people eating diet-packs actually over eat. More from the NewScientist:

Grocery aisles are full of small "diet packs" of candy, cookies or fried snacks, advertised as a guilt-free way of helping you eat less. But Rik Pieters and colleagues at Tilburg University in the Netherlands suspected that diet packs might in fact make people drop their guard and eat more.

They had 140 students watch TV - to rate advertising, they were told - and gave them either two 200-gram bags of potato chips or nine 45-gram packs. To activate "self-regulatory concerns", half of the students were asked about weight issues and weighed in front of a mirror - all supposedly as part of another study.

Among students without weight thoughts, three-quarters opened their small bags and half opened their large bags. Both ate about the same amount. In volunteers primed with a diet mindset, however, just a quarter of students opened their large bags, eating half as many chips as the 59 per cent of students who cracked open the small packs (Journal of Consumer Research, DOI: 10.1086/589564).

The researchers think people with small bags felt they didn't need to exercise self-control, because it was a pre-portioned pack. The same effect may occur with other seemingly small temptations, such as low-fat or natural foods.

Honestly, is there much difference between 100 calories of cookies and an entire box of cookies? Here’s an idea, 1 Million-Nutrient packs of fruits and veggies!