A study has found that “diet-sized snack portions encourage people to eat more,"The Daily Telegraph reported. The newspaper said that researchers had warned that smaller sized packets could make people believe they had already limited their food intake, and therefore did not need to “exercise further self-control”. It added that it is not only diet-sized or “fun packs” that make dieters drop their guard - the effect could extend to apparently healthy food, such as nuts and berries.
This research resulted in some contradictory findings, and there is no certainty that it actually suggests that pack size is a major determinant of how much a person consumes. The study’s results showed that pack size alone did not make any difference to how many crisps were eaten, and any difference in consumption levels was only clear in those people who had been made to think about their diet. This study does not indicate an optimum packet size for limiting binging, nor a size that is linked to people eating more.
