It seems intuitive, but a food s packaging may contain cues that make you eat more or less without consciously realizing. And with the increase seen in snacking, packaging could make a huge difference in eating habits.
In what Hershey Co. calls its hand-to-mouth platform, it is responding to the notion of eating on the go. Instead of individually wrapped candies, Hershey now sells bags of Reese s Minis, Rolo Minis, Twizzler Bites and Jolly Rancher bites in resealable bags. Researchers believe this resealability may cause snackers to slow down because they are aware that some of the snack should be saved. But, the fact that snackers no longer have to open individual packages may actually increase the amount eaten.
And the size of a package can also have a huge effect on how much people eat. Dr. Brian Wansink, ACSH scientific advisor and director of Cornell University s Food and Brand Lab who has studied consumer attitudes towards food extensively, found that moviegoers ate 34 percent more popcorn from a large bucket as compared to a medium sized bucket, even though the popcorn was stale and individuals described it as terrible. Academics call this unit bias and explain that people are inept at knowing when to hit the brakes with food. They eat to the bottom of the bowl or bag if that seems like a logical meal or portion size.
But some packaging may contain subtle hints to cue individuals to stop eating. Researchers gave college students packages of Lay s Stax. Some packages had red potato chips placed throughout the canister. Those students eating out of packages with the red potato chip ate less than those students who had no red chips in their packages, and they were able to accurately estimate how much they had eaten. These artificial barriers help eaters decide when to stop, said Dr. Andrew Geier, lead author of the study.
