MyPlate, Half-Plate, and No Plate: How Visual Plate-Related Dietary Benchmarks Influence What Food People Serve.

Introduction The objective of this article is to analyze whether visual plate-related dietary guidance systems - such as the MyPlate guideline or the Half-Plate Rule - help people eat better when dining at home or in restaurants. Methods To help explore this, 104 young adults were randomly assigned to follow either (1) USDA MyPlate guidelines, (2) the Half-Plate Rule, or (3) no guidelines (control condition). They then used their assigned guidelines to complete the survey while eating a dinner of their choice. They completed a food diary for the meal and then completed a survey about their experience. Results Both the two visual dietary guidance systems (My Plate and the Half-Plate Rule) were considered easy to understand and easy to follow, and they left people with fewer questions about what to eat (all p < 0.01). Understandability is important because those people who rated a system "easy to follow" indicated they had consumed less meat than usual (r = 0.268), but understandability was uncorrelated with fruit and vegetable intake (r = 0.092) and carbohydrate intake (r = 0.069). Conclusions There are three key conclusions to these and other findings: first, the simplest guidance system may be more effective than none. Second, even the most perfect dietary guidance system will not change behavior if (a) the foods are not available, or (b) it is not followed. Third, guidance systems could over-increase the consumption of some foods (such as dairy) they specifically mention, presumably because it makes them more salient in one's mind.

College Cafeteria Signage Increases Water Intake but Water Position on the Soda Dispenser Encourages More Soda Consumption.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of improved water location visibility and water dispenser position on the soda dispenser on undergraduate students' beverage choices. METHODS: Two focus groups with pilot intervention surveys before and after, adding a small sign above the soda dispensers' water button for 6 weeks in a large US university's all-you-can-eat, prepaid dining hall (measured with chi-square tests and logistic and ordinal logistic regression). RESULTS: Focus groups included 15 students. Survey participants included 357 students before and 301 after the intervention. After the intervention, more students reported ever having drunk water with the meal (66.4% to 77.0%; P = .003) and water consumption frequency increased (P = .005). Postintervention, the odds of drinking water increased by 1.57. Preference for other drinks was the main reason for not drinking water. A total of 59% of students had ever changed their preference from water to soda. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The clear indication of the water's location increased students' reported water consumption. Further investigation is needed into how a non-independent water dispenser influences students' beverage choice. Clearly labeled, independent water dispensers are recommended.

Exploring the flavor life cycle of beers with varying alcohol content.

Decreasing alcohol in beer and increasing the pleasure of lower alcohol beers is a potential way to limit total alcohol consumption. Consumers' willingness to drink alcohol-reduced beers is mainly limited by unfavorable flavor characteristics that arise during consumption. To investigate the temporal flavor dominance during consumption, we analyzed the five most dominant beer flavors from nine different beers among three types of beer with varying alcohol content to assess the Flavor Life Cycle. Results show that beers with different alcohol content displayed similar flavor dominance (e.g., bitterness) and displayed differences in worty-off flavor, malty flavor, and astringency. In alcohol-free beers, worty-off flavor was most pronounced in dominating between 5 and 30 s and malty flavor increased after swallowing. For bitterness and astringency, higher alcohol content resulted in higher flavor dominance, especially prior to swallowing (≤40 sec). Based on these findings, we provide some brief advice to minimize unfavorable flavor experience during consumption of beer with lower alcohol. For now, consumers who want to enjoy beers with lower alcohol should consider flavor changes and focus on the favored and defocus on the less favored flavors.

Innovative approaches to weight loss in a high-risk population: The small changes and lasting effects (SCALE) trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of a small change behavioral weight loss intervention with or without a positive affect/self-affirmation (PA/SA) component on weight loss at 12 months. METHODS: Black and Hispanic adults (N = 405) with body mass index 25-50 kg/m2 selected one of ten small change eating strategies and a physical activity goal, randomly with/without PA/SA. Participants were followed by community health workers at set intervals (weekly in months 1-3; biweekly in months 4-9; once monthly in months 10-12). RESULTS: There was no difference in weight loss at 12 months between participants in the small change approach alone (1.1%) versus the small change PA/SA intervention (1.2%). During treatment, 9% of participants lost at least 7% of their initial body weight. Participants who reported more interval life events had a lower likelihood of losing weight (P < 0.0001). However, those randomized to the small change PA/SA intervention gained less weight (+0.3% vs. 2.3% gain; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The small change PA/SA intervention did not lead to a significant difference in weight loss in comparison to the small change approach alone. It did, however, decrease the negative impact of psychosocial stressors on weight gain among participants with more interval life events.

The sound of cooperation: Musical influences on cooperative behavior.

Music as an environmental aspect of professional workplaces has been closely studied with respect to consumer behavior while sparse attention has been given to its relevance for employee behavior. In this article, we focus on the influence of music upon cooperative behavior within decision-making groups. Based on results from two extended 20-round public goods experiments, we find that happy music significantly and positively influences cooperative behavior. We also find a significant positive association between mood and cooperative behavior. Consequently, while our studies provide partial support for the relevance of affect in relation to cooperation within groups, we also show an independently important function of happy music that fits with a theory of synchronous and rhythmic activity as a social lubricant. More generally, our findings indicate that music and perhaps other atmospheric variables that are designed to prime consumer behavior might have comparably important effects for employees and consequently warrant closer investigation.

Fruit-Promoting Smarter Lunchrooms Interventions: Results From a Cluster RCT.

INTRODUCTION: The Smarter Lunchrooms Movement was developed to provide schools with simple, low-cost solutions to encourage students to make healthier food choices at school. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of fruit-promoting Smarter Lunchroom interventions on middle school students' selection and consumption of fruits. DESIGN: A 9-week cluster RCT was conducted using a pre-test/post-test control group design in upstate New York in February-April 2014. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Ten middle schools (Grades 5-8) were recruited and randomized into a fruit intervention (n=4), vegetable intervention (n=3), or control group (n=3). This article focuses only on the fruit intervention and control groups. INTERVENTION: The fruit intervention group made changes to the convenience, visibility, and attractiveness of fruit in their lunchrooms for a period of 6 weeks. The control group made no changes, and were offered Smarter Lunchrooms training post-intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Selection and plate waste data were collected from February to April 2014, and analyzed in 2014-2015. Average selection, waste, and consumption of food items were computed, and the statistical differences between treatment and control groups were analyzed using t-test statistics and difference-in-difference analysis. RESULTS: Fruit selection increased overall by 36% (p<0.001), and fruit consumption increased overall by 23% (p<0.017). Vegetable selection and consumption and white milk selection also increased significantly in the treatment schools (p<0.001), though were not significant overall. CONCLUSIONS: The fruit intervention increased the selection and consumption of fruits overall, and increased the selection and consumption of vegetables and the selection of white milk in treatment schools. These findings provide evidence supporting the use of fruit-promoting Smarter Lunchrooms techniques in middle schools to increase the selection and consumption of healthy food items.

Depicted serving size: cereal packaging pictures exaggerate serving sizes and promote overserving.

BACKGROUND: Extensive work has focused on the effects of nutrition label information on consumer behavior on the one hand, and on the effects of packaging graphics on the other hand. However, little work has examined how serving suggestion depictions - graphics relating to serving size - influence the quantity consumers serve themselves. The current work examines the prevalence of exaggerated serving size depictions on product packaging (study 1) and its effects on food serving in the context of cereal (study 2). METHODS: Study 1 was an observational field survey of cereal packaging. Study 2 was a mixed experimental cross-sectional design conducted at a U.S. university, with 51 student participants. Study 1 coded 158 US breakfast cereals and compared the serving sizes depicted on the front of the box with the suggested serving size stated on the nutrition facts panel. Study 2 measured the amount of cereal poured from exaggerated or accurate serving size depictions. Study 1 compared average servings via t-tests. Study 2 used a mixed model with cereal type as the repeated measure and a compound symmetry covariance matrix. RESULTS: Study 1 demonstrated that portion size depictions on the front of 158 cereal boxes were 65.84% larger (221 vs. 134 calories) than the recommended portions on nutrition facts panels of those cereals. Study 2 showed that boxes that depicted exaggerated serving sizes led people to pour 20% more cereal compared to pouring from modified boxes that depicted a single-size portion of cereal matching suggested serving size. This was 45% over the suggested serving size. CONCLUSIONS: Biases in depicted serving size depicted on cereal packaging are prevalent in the marketplace. Such biases may lead to overserving, which may consequently lead to overeating. Companies should depict the recommended serving sizes, or otherwise indicate that the depicted portion represents an exaggerated serving size.

Healthy Concessions: High School Students' Responses to Healthy Concession Stand Changes.

BACKGROUND: A previous sales data analysis demonstrated success in selling healthier items at a concession stand. Questions remained regarding student satisfaction and whether the intervention reached non-health-conscious students. METHODS: Cross-sectional anonymous samples of students at a large midwestern high school were surveyed before and after an intervention improved the number of healthier items available at the concession stand. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 301 students preintervention and 314 students postintervention. Satisfaction remained good (3.7 preintervention and 3.6 postintervention). Satisfaction with the variety and taste of foods increased. We compared students who felt having healthy items were important at the concessions to those who did not. Overall satisfaction with concessions did not differ between groups. The latter group (healthy items not important) reported improved satisfaction with food variety (2.8 to 3.1, p = .02) and the former reported improved satisfaction with healthy foods (2.5 to 2.9, p = .03) and overall taste (3.2 to 3.4, p = .02). Of the healthy items not important students 76% reported purchasing at least 1 new healthier food. CONCLUSIONS: Adding healthier foods to school concession stands has positive effects on student satisfaction, sales, and reaches all students whether or not they care about having healthy items available.