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Calorie Underestimation, Meal Size, and Body Size

¹ AEM, Cornell, 110 Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850,
² Marketing, INSEAD, 4300 Avenue du Alataine, Fountainbleau, FDU S34, France

ABSTRACT

Calorie underestimation among overweight individuals has been attributed to motivational biases and has been clinically treated as such. This research investigates whether the association between calorie underestimation and body size is spurious and instead due a tendency for all individuals to experience diminishing calorie sensitivity as the size of the meal increases.

In an initial field study, 105 normal weight and overweight lunchtime diners (Body Mass Index of 17.2–33.5 kg/m2) estimated the number of calories of the fast-food meal they had just consumed. In a second laboratory study, 40 adults estimated the number of calories of 15 different sized meals.

While the number of calories of smaller meals was estimated reasonably accurately, the number of calories of larger meals was strongly underestimated. After controlling for meal size, there were no differences between the estimations of regular weight participants and those of overweight participant.

People’s estimation of the number of calorie of a meal follows a mathematically predictable compressive psychophysical power function of the number of calories of the meals. The higher underestimation of overweight consumers is a spurious consequence of their tendency to consume larger meals. Calorie underestimation is related to meal size, not body size.

This Article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Wansink, B. Articles by Chandon, P. PubMed Articles by Wansink, B. Articles by Chandon, P.