Here at EBL, we’ve written regularly about the data available on obesity for two reasons. First, obesity is a major health problem in the U.S. affecting millions of adults and children. Second, there is a lot of new evidence on innovative approaches to tackling this health problem.
The latest systematic review addresses how portion sizes and dinnerware affect how much people eat. The review included 72 studies published between 1978 and 2013 that evaluated how different sizes and types of packaging, portion sizes and dinnerware influenced the amount of food, beverage and tobacco products that participants consumed.
The evidence showed that people consistently consume more food and drink when offered larger-sized portions, packages or tableware than when offered smaller-sized versions. In their meta-analysis, researchers calculated that reducing the size of dinnerware and portions on the whole could reduce average daily calories consumed by U.S. adults by more than 500 calories a day.
While there have been individual studies on this topic for decades, this is the first systematic review that describes the entire body of evidence on portion size and calorie consumption.
The review lists a broad range of actions that could help to reduce portion size including enacting legislations that limit the serving size of high-calorie foods at restaurants or the sizes of dishware in restaurant; placing larger portion sizes on higher shelves to make them less accessible to consumers; and visually indicating a single portion sizes in food packaging. (You may remember a previous EBL post about the city of New York limiting the size of soft drinks sold in public venues to 16 ounces.) This new evidence certainly supports that practice.
The take-home message: Starting with less food on your plate and using smaller dinnerware does help people consume less food. This is evidence you can put into action in your home. Set your dinner table with dessert plates instead or dinner plates, or serve juice in tiny glasses. Making these type of decisions on a regular basis is an effective approach to avoid overeating and potentially, reducing the risk of obesity.
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