Smaller Plates Can Help With Weight Loss

While joining a gym or eliminating sugar from your diet can help with New Year's resolutions to lose weight, a simpler option may be in your kitchen.

Using small plates, a new study found, can indeed make you eat less.

While there have been over 50 studies on how plate size affects food consumption, researchers have only now studied the evidence as a whole to conclude that smaller plates can have a positive impact on healthy choices and portion control.

"Combining all the studies showed that halving the plate size led to a 30% reduction in amount of food consumed on average," a press release on the study stated.

Self-served portions

The research revealed that smaller plates are only effective, however, if diners are serving themselves their own portions - which means that a person who is given a small plate is likely to put less food on the plate than if he or she were given a larger plate.

Also, smaller plates may only work if consumers are unaware they are being monitored. In many research settings, for example, studies conducted on plate size may have been skewed by the fact that participants knew they were being watched.

The findings suggest that overeating could be prevented in situations where individuals serve themselves, such as at home or a buffet, said co-author Natalina Zlatevska.

"Just changing to smaller plates at home can help reduce how much you serve yourself and how much you eat," Zlatevska concluded.

Source: Cornell Food and Brand Lab