Smaller plates may not be helpful tools for dieters, study suggests.

Smaller plates may not be helpful tools for dieters, study suggests

Dieters advised to use a smaller dinner plate may find themselves without much weight loss success, or so says findings recently published  in theJournal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.

In the study (subscription required), 10 overweight and 10 normal weight women participated in the study; each was randomly assigned to dine with either an 8.5-inch or a 10.8-inch dinner plate. Told to eat until they felt satisfied, the women were studied over one meal (lunch) on two different days and each used a different-sized plate every time they ate.

The plate size did not affect the amount of calories that participants ate at either meal. However, overweight/obese women in the study reported feeling less hungry prior to the meal and less full afterward.

Reading the results, I’m left wondering whether a longer study would have told a different story or if more direction about what to eat would have made a difference. But you can read more about the study in this HealthDay News story.

By Robyn Horn
Stanford University Medical Center

Photo by austin hsieh

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* Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions – Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

**  The above story is adapted from materials provided by Stanford University School of Medicine

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