To date, there have been no studies that have explicitly examined the effect of awareness on the consumption of food from a Universal Eating Monitor (UEM - hidden balance interfaced to a computer which covertly records eating behaviour). We tested whether awareness of a UEM affected consumption of a pasta lunch and a cookie snack. 39 female participants were randomly assigned to either an aware...

Despite the potential link between snack food intake and obesity and the reportedly high prevalence of snacking among adolescents, adolescent snack food patterns (types of foods consumed, frequency and portion size) have not been extensively examined. This study examines these issues using data on the snacking patterns of adolescents aged 13-16 years who took part in the 1997 National Diet and ...

Public health researchers express concern about branded computer games on food company websites (i.e. advergames) that enable marketers to engage children for unlimited lengths of time to promote calorie-dense nutrient-poor foods. Study 1 examines children’s exposure to US food company websites with advergames: 1.2 million children visit these sites every month and spend up to 1 hour per month ...

Preferences and cravings for sweet high-fat foods observed among obese and bulimic patients may involve the endogenous opioid peptide system. The opioid antagonist naloxone, opioid agonist butorphanol, and saline placebo were administered by intravenous infusion to 14 female binge eaters and 12 normal-weight controls. Eight of the binge eaters were obese. During infusion, the subjects tasted 20...

Immigrants in the U.S. may encounter challenges of acculturation, including dietary habits, as they adapt to new surroundings. We examined Vietnamese and Hispanic immigrant children's American food consumption patterns in a convenience sample of 63 Vietnamese and Hispanic children in grades four to six who were attending an after school program. Children indicated the number of times they consu...

Recent studies report that using green labels to denote healthier foods, and red to denote less healthy foods increases consumption of green- and decreases consumption of red-labelled foods. Other symbols (e.g. emoticons conveying normative approval and disapproval) could also be used to signal the healthiness and/or acceptability of consuming such products. The present study tested the combine...