What You See Trumps How Much You Eat . . .

Scientists at Cornell wanted to see what role the apparent size of a food portion might play in determining how much we eat. To do this, they devised a ‘bottomless bowl’ – a self-refilling soup bowl that imperceptibly refilled as the soup was eaten. They put two of these bowls in a special restaurant-styled table together with two ‘normal’ bowls, and invited volunteers to sup their fill. Those supping from the ‘bottomless bowl’ got a biased or inaccurate visual impression of how much they’d consumed, while those with the normal bowls got an accurate impression.

The volunteers eating from the self-refilling bowls happily ate more soup than those with the normal bowls – 75% more, in fact. But, when asked, they didn’t think they’d eaten more than the others, and they didn’t think they were fuller than normal.

The scientists think this study shows that the amount of food on a plate or bowl increases intake, as people use their eyes to count calories, rather than their stomachs. Portion size is all.  So, to prevent overeating, make sure you can see all the food on the plate or in the bowl, and act accordingly. And watch out for bottomless bowls!