Chernev A. The Dieter’s Paradox. Journal of Consumer Psy
Method_One
Posts: 58 Member
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/the-dieters-paradox-research-review.html#more-8649
The link above is a literature review by Lyle McDonald. It on some level addresses two things that severely limit the effectiveness of sites like MFP. 1) Energy expenditures due to exercise are typically over stated and 2) perception of caloric content of foods can be inaccurate based on personal biases of what constitutes good and bad meals.
Mr. McDonald summarizes the paper as follows, read the link for background and comments:
"" The study recruited 934 people, of whom the majority (74.2%) were female aged anywhere from under 20 to over 50. Subjects were then shown 4 meals which either consisted of ‘unhealthy’ foods or those same unhealthy foods coupled with a healthy option. The four meals, with the healthy addition shown in parentheses, were a hamburger (three celery sticks), bacon and cheese waffle sandwich (small organic apple), chili with beef (small salad without dressing) and meatball pepperoni cheesesteak (celery/carrot side dish). So, for example, subjects were either shown a bacon and cheese waffle sandwich (which sounds amazing in so many ways) either by itself or side by side with a small organic apple.
Half the subjects were shown the unhealthy choice alone and the other half were shown the combination of the unhealthy choice with it’s healthy add-on and they were asked to estimate the caloric value of the meals. I’d mention that this design is problematic because it’s not comparing how a given individual might rank each of the two meals; rather it’s comparing the average estimate of the caloric value of the different meals between people. All subjects were also asked to rate how concerned they were with managing their weight on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being extremely concerned).
The study generated a total of 2750 total observations of the different meals and, on average, subjects estimated that the unhealthy meal alone contained 691 calories. Now, logically it’s obvious that a food consisting of an unhealthy item PLUS a healthy item would have to have more calories than the unhealthy item alone. Clearly two foods can’t have less calories than either food alone.
Yet, on average, subjects estimated the unhealthy plus healthy choice as having only 648 calories. I’d mention that as a third part of the study, a separate group was asked if they believed that the healthy foods contained negative calories and this was not the case. So it doesn’t appear to have been the case where subjects figured that the healthy addition was literally ‘reducing’ the caloric value of the food by containing negative calories. Rather, the ‘health halo’ effect caused people to systematically underestimate the caloric value of the combination of an unhealthy and healthy food.
But it gets even odder. When the estimates were ranked by how folks reported their concern with managing their weight, the values changed even more. The most ‘weight conscious’ subjects estimated the unhealthy meal as containing 711 calories while the combination of the unhealthy and healthy choice was only 615 calories. In contrast, the non-weight conscious individuals estimates were only 684 for the unhealthy choice versus 658 for the combination and there was a direct relationship between how weight conscious the subjects were and their mis-estimate of the different meals.""
The link above is a literature review by Lyle McDonald. It on some level addresses two things that severely limit the effectiveness of sites like MFP. 1) Energy expenditures due to exercise are typically over stated and 2) perception of caloric content of foods can be inaccurate based on personal biases of what constitutes good and bad meals.
Mr. McDonald summarizes the paper as follows, read the link for background and comments:
"" The study recruited 934 people, of whom the majority (74.2%) were female aged anywhere from under 20 to over 50. Subjects were then shown 4 meals which either consisted of ‘unhealthy’ foods or those same unhealthy foods coupled with a healthy option. The four meals, with the healthy addition shown in parentheses, were a hamburger (three celery sticks), bacon and cheese waffle sandwich (small organic apple), chili with beef (small salad without dressing) and meatball pepperoni cheesesteak (celery/carrot side dish). So, for example, subjects were either shown a bacon and cheese waffle sandwich (which sounds amazing in so many ways) either by itself or side by side with a small organic apple.
Half the subjects were shown the unhealthy choice alone and the other half were shown the combination of the unhealthy choice with it’s healthy add-on and they were asked to estimate the caloric value of the meals. I’d mention that this design is problematic because it’s not comparing how a given individual might rank each of the two meals; rather it’s comparing the average estimate of the caloric value of the different meals between people. All subjects were also asked to rate how concerned they were with managing their weight on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being extremely concerned).
The study generated a total of 2750 total observations of the different meals and, on average, subjects estimated that the unhealthy meal alone contained 691 calories. Now, logically it’s obvious that a food consisting of an unhealthy item PLUS a healthy item would have to have more calories than the unhealthy item alone. Clearly two foods can’t have less calories than either food alone.
Yet, on average, subjects estimated the unhealthy plus healthy choice as having only 648 calories. I’d mention that as a third part of the study, a separate group was asked if they believed that the healthy foods contained negative calories and this was not the case. So it doesn’t appear to have been the case where subjects figured that the healthy addition was literally ‘reducing’ the caloric value of the food by containing negative calories. Rather, the ‘health halo’ effect caused people to systematically underestimate the caloric value of the combination of an unhealthy and healthy food.
But it gets even odder. When the estimates were ranked by how folks reported their concern with managing their weight, the values changed even more. The most ‘weight conscious’ subjects estimated the unhealthy meal as containing 711 calories while the combination of the unhealthy and healthy choice was only 615 calories. In contrast, the non-weight conscious individuals estimates were only 684 for the unhealthy choice versus 658 for the combination and there was a direct relationship between how weight conscious the subjects were and their mis-estimate of the different meals.""
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