title: Caloric estimation of healthy and unhealthy foods in normal-weight, overweight and obese participants.
abstract: Individuals make dietary choices each time they consume food or drink, and assign labels to each item, such as un/healthy, high/low in calories, high/low in nutrients. These labels are thought to be snap judgments based on prior, and often limited nutritional knowledge. The aim of this study was to examine the perception of the caloric content of 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' foods. Participants (N=141) rated 53 food images on perceived healthiness/un-healthiness alongside the caloric content. Participants were subdivided into three groups: BMI (normal-weight, overweight, obese). Findings suggest that weight status impacts on participant's caloric estimation of foods perceived as healthy, but only marginally for unhealthy foods. However, not all foods were consistently labeled as healthy or unhealthy, on these occasions weight salience appears not to have influenced estimations of caloric content. Foods that confound the dichotomous labeling of healthy or unhealthy appear to gain a 'branding' that confers either greater or fewer calories than they actually contain, on these occasions weight salience does not appear to influence the labeling; implications are discussed.
authors: Post Graduate Medical Institute, Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, UK. Electronic address: derek.larkin@edgehill.ac.uk.
authors: Derek
authors: D
authors: Larkin
authors: Faculty of Society and Health, Buckinghamshire New University, UK.
authors: Colin R
authors: CR
authors: Martin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D002755:Choice Behavior; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009753:Nutritive Value; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Calories estimation; Food; Food labels; Food perception; Obesity