Eating healthy foods could potentially lead to being overweight as consumers tend to eat more than the recommended serving size when they associate these foods as less filling, a new study shows. This may cause overeating and thus could contribute to obesity.

The study, published in the journal Association for Consumer Research, shows the negative effects of the "healthy = less filling" assumption. People order greater sizes and consume greater amounts when a food is portrayed as healthy.

Researchers from the Cornell University said the findings add to the increasing number of studies showing the psychological causes of weight gain and obesity. They have found that portraying unhealthy food as healthy using a front-of-package nutritional scale could affect the consumer’s judgment and behaviour.

The findings come from results of three studies aimed to see how consumers hold an implicit belief that healthy foods are less filling than unhealthy foods. The studies involved 162 graduate and undergraduate students.

Hunger levels of the participants were measured after consumption of a cookie that was either portrayed as healthy or unhealthy. Researchers analysed the effect of health portrayals on the participants’ hunger levels. The team then measured the health portrayals’ impact on the amount of food ordered before watching a short film and the actual amount of food the participants consumed while watching the film.

Results show even those who say they disagree with the idea that healthy foods are less filling show the similar effect of eating more food. In order to prevent overeating foods portrayed as healthy, the researchers suggest that consumers should consider the nourishing aspects of the healthy food to feel full without overeating.

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