WASHINGTON - Call it the alter-ego of super-sizing.
Researchers infiltrated a fast-food Chinese restaurant and found
up to a third of diners jumped at the offer of a half-size of the
usual heaping pile of rice or noodles - even when the smaller
amount cost the same.
Giant portion sizes are one of the culprits behind the epidemic
of bulging waistlines, and nowhere is the portion-creep more
evident than in restaurants with french fry-heavy meal deals or
plates overflowing with pasta. Now scientists are tapping into the
psychology of eating to find ways to trim portions without people
feeling cheated - focusing on everything from the starchy sides to
the color of the plates.
"The small Coke now is what used to be a large 15 years ago,"
laments psychologist Janet Schwartz, a marketing professor at
Tulane University who led the Chinese food study. "We should ask
people what portion size they want," instead of large being the
default.
Restaurants are paying close attention, says prominent
food-science researcher Brian Wansink of Cornell University. His
own tests found children were satisfied with about half the fries
in their Happy Meal long before McDonald's cut back the size, and
the calories, last year.
"We'll be seeing some very creative ways of down-sizing in the
next couple of years," predicts Wansink, author of Mindless Eating:
Why We Eat More Than We Think.
But let's call it "right-sizing," says Duke University
behavioral economist Dan Ariely. Right-size suggests it's a good
portion, not a cut, he says.
Couldn't you just get a doggie bag? Sure, if you've got the
willpower to stop before your plate is mostly clean. Lots of
research shows Americans don't. We tend to rely on visual cues
about how much food is left, shoveling it in before the
stomach-to-brain signal of "hey wait, I'm getting full" can
arrive.
So Schwartz and Ariely tested a different approach: Could we
limit our own temptation if we focus not on the tastiest reason we
visited a restaurant - the entree - but on the side dishes? After
all, restaurants can pile on calorie-dense starches like rice or
pasta or fries because they're very inexpensive, filling the plate
so it looks like a good deal, Schwartz says.
A popular Chinese franchise at Duke University, with a mix of
students, staff and visitors to the campus hospital, allowed the
researchers in at lunchtime.
In the serving line, customers pick the rice or noodles first.
The standard serving is a whopping 10 ounces, about 400 calories
even before ordering the entree, says Schwartz. There was no
half-size option on the menu board.
In a series of experiments, servers asked 970 customers after
their initial rice or noodle order: "Would you like a half-order to
save 200 calories?" Those who said yes didn't order a
higher-calorie entree to compensate. Weighing leftovers showed they
threw away the same amount of food as customers who refused or
weren't offered the option.
A 25-cent discount didn't spur more takers. Nor did adding
calorie labels so people could calculate for themselves, the
researchers report in this month's journal Health Affairs -
concluding the up-front offer made the difference.
Anywhere from 14 percent to 33 percent chose the reduced
portions, depending on the day and the mix of customers.
Even 200 fewer calories can add up over time. And other tricks
can trim portions without people noticing, whether dining out or at
home. Cornell's Wansink found people served 18 percent more pasta
with marinara sauce onto a red plate than a white one - and 18
percent more pasta alfredo onto a white plate.
A stark contrast "makes you think twice before you throw on
another scoop," explains Wansink. His own family bought some dark
dinner plates to supplement their white ones, because people tend
to overeat white starches more than veggies.
Wansink's other research has found:
•Switching from 11-inch plates to 10-inch plates makes people
take less food, and waste less food. The slightly smaller plate
makes a normal serving look more satisfying.
•People think they're drinking more from a tall skinny glass
than a short wide one even if both hold the same volume, a finding
Wansink says was widely adopted by bars.
•Beware if kids eat from the adult bowls. He found 6-year-olds
serve themselves 44 percent more food in an 18-ounce bowl than a
12-ounce bowl.
Restaurants are starting to get the message that at least some
customers want to eat more sensibly. Applebees, for example, has
introduced a line of meals under 550 calories, including such
things as steak.
And a National Restaurant Association survey found
smaller-portion entrees, "mini-meals" for adults and kids, and
bite-size desserts made a new trend list.
It's all consumer demand, says association nutrition director
Joy Dubost: More diners now are "requesting the healthier options
and paying attention to their calories."