The effects of mindful eating on food consumption over a half-day period

Abstract

This study examined the effects of a key feature of mindful eating (paying attention to the sensory properties of food) on calorie and macronutrient intake over a half-day period. Female participants (n = 60) were given a 635 kcal lunch of sandwiches, crisps and grapes. Those allocated to an experimental condition were asked to attend to the sensory properties of the food. After lunch, all participants were given 908 kcal of three energy dense sweet snack foods and asked to taste and rate them on several dimensions. Unknown to participants, the amounts of all foods consumed were recorded. Before they left the laboratory, participants in the experimental group were also asked to continue to pay attention to the sensory properties of their food for the rest of the day. At the end of the day all participants logged onto a website where they completed a suspicion probe and surprise online food recall measure to assess food intake outside the laboratory. Data from participants who guessed their eating was being measured were excluded. There were no differences between the experimental and control groups in terms of calories consumed during the taste test (166 versus 144 kcal respectively; n = 48) or across the entire half-day period (1456 versus 1343 kcal respectively; n = 44). There were also no differences in total intake of saturated fat, added sugar or fibre. The results fail to support other research that has shown reductions in food intake following mindful eating. This highlights the need to identify underlying mechanisms of action to better understand when this strategy is, and is not, likely to influence diet. PRE-REGISTRATION: osf.io/f4x2m.

Keywords: Calories; Diet; Memory; Mindful eating; Mindfulness.