At Super Bowl parties, weddings, Independence Day cookouts and Thanksgiving dinners, people celebrate with large spreads of food. When faced with many options, extra food variety increases people's selection of foods, especially calorie-rich foods, which may lead to overeating, according to a new study conducted by researchers in the Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences.
"This study examined what drives people to overconsume food at a buffet, similar to dining halls where millions of college students eat every day," said John Long, first author of the study and postdoctoral scholar in food science and nutritional sciences. "If we identify the aspects of our modern food environment - excessive variety, slick packaging, processed foods and more - that increase how much people eat, we can redesign our environment to help us make healthier food choices."
Prior studies at Penn State and elsewhere indicated when people eat from a plate with many different foods, they will consume more calories. The current study, published in the journal Appetite, demonstrated that greater food variety affected how much food people served themselves before taking their first bite. The researchers found that the presence of a higher variety of foods in a buffet increased both the weight of food selected and the number of calories people put on their plates.
