Premium
Effects of Fasting on Food Choices
Author(s) -
Tal Aner,
Wansink Brian C.,
Shimizu Mitsuru
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.94.2
Subject(s) - french fries , food choice , food science , calorie , medicine , healthy eating , healthy food , food intake , environmental health , physical activity , biology , endocrinology , physical therapy , pathology
How does food‐deprivation effect food choices? The study reported here suggests that people who have suffered mild food deprivation lean more towards higher calorie foods and consequently consume more of them. Participants (N = 81) were instructed to avoid eating for 18 hours prior to participating in the study during lunch. Importantly, only participants who reported not normally skipping breakfast were chosen for the study, as it was hypothesized that the manipulation would be more efficacious for them. Since not all participants obeyed instructions we only counted those who skipped breakfast as our fasting condition. We examined the order in which they chose to eat 6 different foods belonging to 3 different food groups: carbohydrates (dinner rolls and fries), protein (chicken fingers and cheese), and vegetables (green beans and carrots). Analyses revealed that fasting participants started with carbohydrates first (41.03%) to considerably greater extent than did non‐fasting participants (20%): χ2= 4.37, p = .04. Carbs replaced vegetables as the first chosen food. Choice of starting with vegetables went down from 52.5% for control participants to 23.08% for fasting participants. Importantly, eating a food first led to consuming more of a food, r = .24 (p < .0001). Effects were particularly marked for females. No funding Grant Funding Source : None