An Experimental Field Study of Weight Salience and Food Choice

Details

• Personal Author:
  Buss J ; Finch LE ; Guardino CM ; Incollingo Rodriguez AC ; Tomiyama AJ
• Description:
  Laboratory research has found that individuals will consume more calories and make unhealthy food choices when in the presence of an overweight individual, sometimes even regardless of what that individual is eating. This study expanded these laboratory paradigms to the field to examine how weight salience influences eating in the real world. More specifically, we tested the threshold of the effect of weight salience of food choice to see if a more subtle weight cue (e.g., images) would be sufficient to affect food choice. Attendees (N=262) at Obesity Week 2013, a weight-salient environment, viewed slideshows containing an image of an overweight individual, an image of a thin individual, or no image (text only), and then selected from complimentary snacks. Results of ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that participants who viewed the image of the overweight individual had higher odds of selecting the higher calorie snack compared to those who viewed the image of the thin individual (OR=1.77, 95% CI=[1.04, 3.04]), or no image (OR=2.42, 95% CI=[1.29, 4.54]). Perceiver BMI category did not moderate the influence of image on food choice, as these results occurred regardless of participant BMI. These findings suggest that in the context of societal weight salience, weight-related cues alone may promote unhealthy eating in the general public. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Diet Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Obesity BMI Body Mass Index Caloric Intake Eating Field Study Food Food Choice Obesity Weight Factors Weight Salience

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• ISSN:
  0195-6663
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  215-218
• Volume:
  89
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20053694
• Citation:
  Appetite 2015 Jun; 89:215-218
• Contact Point Address:
  A. Janet Tomiyama, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Email:
  tomiyama@psych.ucla.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Berkeley
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Appetite
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:af7007e087cf580bd6740cc2a8bbdc35145ad1b640836c9f0c084c7254cf2cf522931657563e2d3f9dc9751f1a1393711a8a45f73b88061cd7f5beeea091c050
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/216407/cdc_216407_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 222.56 KB ]