Eat Less Without Thinking By Changing Plate Color

Researchers at Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab found that diners will eat almost 20% more food if the color of their food matches the color of their plate (1). To study the effect of plate color on food consumption, sixty Cornell alumni were invited to dine on a free pasta lunch. The unsuspecting diners were given a white plate or a red plate and directed to a buffet of pasta with Alfredo sauce or a buffet of pasta with marinara sauce. Their plates were secretly weighed after eating.

When diners served themselves white pasta on a white plate, or red pasta on a red plate, they consumed 18% more than diners eating pasta that contrasted their plate color.  Diners consistently served themselves more pasta when there was less contrast between the color of their food and their plate.

Although the amount eaten was not assessed in this study, another study by Dr. Brian Wansink found adults eat most of the meal they are served. In a variety of eating conditions studied, researchers found that adults consume about 92% of what is on their plates at meal time (2). If we serve ourselves more, we eat more.

Simple changes to our eating environment can change our eating behavior (3). It's much easier to change our food environment than change our eating habits.

References

1. Van Ittersum K, Wansink, B. Plate Size and Color Suggestibility: The Delboeuf Illusion’s Bias on Serving and Eating Behavior. Journal of Consumer Research. 2012; 39. http://www.smallplatemovement.org/doc/JCRDelboeufVanIttersumWansink2012.pdf
2. Wansink B, Johnson KA. The clean plate club: about 92% of the self-served food is eaten. International Journal of Obesity. 2014; 39, 371–374. http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v39/n2/full/ijo2014104a.html
3. Wansink B. Slim By Design. Mindless Eating Solutions For Everyday Life. New York, NY: Harper Collins: 2014. http://www.slimbydesign.org/
4. Food and plate color image created by Christine Dobrowolski using spaghetti and meatballs by johnny_automatic and fork and spoon by rg1024 on OpenClipArt, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.