6533b82cfe1ef96bd128ff4b

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Providing choice and/or variety during a meal: Impact on vegetable liking and intake

subject

description

Food choice is defined as providing the opportunity for an individual to select the food he or she wants to consume while food variety is defined as providing an individual with foods that differ on at least one sensory characteristic. Literature shows that providing food choice or providing food variety may increase meal enjoyment and food intake. However, these two factors have been mainly investigated separately, while they may actually co-occur in real-life settings. In fact, in many out-of-home catering situations, individuals have the possibility to choose as many dishes as they desire from among different proposals for their meal. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of choice and/or variety on food liking and food intake during a lunch. Fifty-nine no rmal-weight adults were recruited under the condition that they equally liked three vegetable dishes (green beans with butter, zucchinis with olive oil, spinach with cream). Volunteers participated in four sessions at lunch time (i) participants were served with one dish randomly selected from among three alternatives (no-choice/no-variety condition); (ii) participants chose one dish from among three alternatives (choice/no-variety condition); (iii) participants were served with the three dishes (no-choice/variety condition); and (iv) participants chose as many dishes as they desired from among three alternatives (choice/variety condition). Outcomes included vegetable intake (plates were weighted before and after consumption) and vegetable liking (participants rated their liking on a 10-point hedonic scale). Results showed that providing choice increased vegetable liking and vegetable intake, while offering a variety of vegetables only increased their liking. No synergy effe ct between choice and variety was observed on vegetable liking and vegetable intake (i.e. the effect in the choice/variety condition was not significantly higher than the effects in no-choice/variety and the choice/no-variety conditions).