Using the Norm Range to Predict the Effect of Food Portion Size Reductions on Compensation Over 5 Days

Using the Norm Range to Predict the Effect of Food Portion Size Reductions on Compensation

Reducing food portion size is a potential strategy to reduce energy intake. However it is unclear at what point consumers compensate for reductions in portion size by increasing energy intake from other items. This could result in no overall benefit of reducing food portion sizes. The investigators tested the hypothesis that reductions to the portion size of components of a main meal will only result in significant compensatory eating when the reduced portion size is no longer visually perceived as 'normal'. In a crossover experiment, participants were served different sized portions during lunch and dinner over 5 days: a 'large-normal', a 'small-normal', and a 'smaller than normal' portion. Intake from all other meal components consumed in the laboratory were measured.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Portion Size
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: portion size

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 39
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Merseyside
    • Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom, L3 6AA
      • Ashleigh Haynes

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 60 years (ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• willing to consume the test foods
• BMI between 22.5 - 32.5

Exclusion Criteria:

• food allergies, intolerances or specific dietary requirements (including being vegetarian or vegan)
• history of eating disorders
• taking medication which affected appetite
• participated in a portion size studies in the past 12 months, or in dieting or weight loss trials in the past 4 weeks

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: CROSSOVER
• Masking: SINGLE

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Acute compensatory energy intake	Energy intake from main meal components that are not varied by portion size	Immediate (within single meal occasion)
Total meal energy intake	Energy intake from all main meal components (including those that are and are not varied by portion size)	Immediate (within single meal occasion)
Total daily energy intake	Energy intake from all foods consumed, including those provided in the laboratory and those self-reported	Over 5 x full days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Moderate-vigorous physical activity	Moderate-vigorous physical activity (recorded using accelerometer device)	Over 5 x full days
Discretionary Leisure-time physical activity	Discretionary Leisure-time physical activity (recorded with self-report measure International Physical Activity Questionnaire)	Over 5 x full days
Appetite	Hunger and fullness sensations before and after laboratory-based meals (self-reported on visual analog scales anchored at 0 'not at all' to 100 'extremely')	Over 5 x full days (measured before and after each meal occasion)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Liverpool
• Collaborators: Medical Research Council

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Haynes A, Hardman CA, Halford JCG, Jebb SA, Mead BR, Robinson E. Reductions to main meal portion sizes reduce daily energy intake regardless of perceived normality of portion size: a 5 day cross-over laboratory experiment. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2020 Feb 12;17(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s12966-020-0920-4.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): February 6, 2018
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): December 7, 2018
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): December 10, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 17, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 17, 2019
• First Posted (ACTUAL): January 22, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): January 24, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 22, 2019
• Last Verified: January 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: Portion size trial

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: IPD for primary outcome measures, demographic variables, and data reported in resulting publication will be made freely available on Open Science Framework
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Study protocol and statistical analysis plan, along with IPD data will be made publicly available on Open Science Framework when results are published
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data will be freely accessible.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No