Carstairs, S.A., Caton, S.J. orcid.org/0000-0002-9096-0800, Hetherington, M.M. et al. (2 more authors) (2020) Colour as a cue to eat : effects of plate colour on snack intake in pre-school children. Food Quality and Preference, 83. 103862. ISSN 0950-3293
Abstract
Environmental cues, such as the colour of food and dishware, have been shown to influence food and drink consumption in adult populations. This proof of concept study investigated whether plate colour could be utilised as a strategy to reduce intake of high energy density (HED) snacks and increase intake of low energy density (LED) snacks in pre-school children. In a between and within-subjects design, children were randomly assigned to either a control group (no colour message) or intervention group (received a colour message: red = stop, green = go) and were provided a snack at nursery on three occasions on differently coloured plates (red, green and white), for each snack type (HED, LED). Snack intake, colour preference, colour association, and anthropometrics were recorded for each child. The results showed that there was no effect of group (control vs intervention) on HED (p=0.540) and LED intake (p=0.575). No effect of plate colour on HED (p=0.147) or LED snack intake (p=0.505) was evident. Combining red and green plates for a chromatic versus achromatic comparison showed that there was no significant effect of chromatic plate on HED (p=0.0503) and LED (p=0.347) intakes. Despite receiving a brief learning intervention, the use of plate colour was found in the present study to be an ineffective strategy to control snack food intake in pre-school aged children. Rather, we suggest that food intake in young children may best be predicted by portion size, energy density and eating behaviour traits.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Elsevier. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Food Quality and Preference. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Colour; Food Intake; Children; Visual Cue; Dishware |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) BB/M027384/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 02 Dec 2019 14:18 |
Last Modified: | 12 Nov 2021 10:24 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.foodqual.2019.103862 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:154098 |
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Filename: 2019_Colour Cue Final Manuscript_Accepted.pdf
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0