If you're going to choose dessert, the high-calorie option may lead you to eat healthier unless you're overly concerned, new research shows. Researchers placed a healthy or less healthy dessert (fresh fruit versus lemon cheesecake) at the beginning or end of a college cafeteria line. When eaters chose the cheesecake first, they then chose low-calorie mains or side dishes and ended up consuming fewer calories than eaters who bought the fresh fruit first. Those effects were not found when one of the desserts was placed at the end of the line.
Three additional online experiments that mimicked a food delivery website had similar findings, except when participants were distracted because they had a lot on their mind. In that case, the participants who chose dessert first were more likely to make unhealthy choices by choosing high-calorie main and side dishes.
In the cafeteria experiment, the researchers interviewed 134 eaters about healthy eating after they passed the cafeteria line. For four days, lemon cheesecake or fresh fruit (but not both) was placed first in line or at the end of the line. There were also healthy and less healthy main and side dishes (e.g. grilled chicken fajitas and a small salad or fried fish and chips). The eaters' eating choices were surreptitiously recorded during the interviews and the amount of food left over after meals was also recorded to estimate total calories consumed. The cafeteria had a fixed price menu, so the price of the desserts was not a factor in the study.
Eaters who chose the delicious dessert ate 30 percent fewer calories (including dessert) than eaters who chose the healthier dessert first. Eaters who chose the cheesecake first were also twice as likely to order the lighter main course than those who chose the cheesecake at the end of the row.
The researchers controlled for other variables that influenced the findings, such as age, gender, body mass index, diet, exercise and opinions about healthy eating. The only variable that had significant effects was age, with the difference in calories consumed increasing with age. Because teachers and staff also used the cafeteria, the ages of participants ranged from 18 to 60 years with an average of 32 years.
In another online study with 180 participants, the findings were similar when a healthy or less healthy main course was presented first on the menu of the delivery website instead of a dessert.
A final online experiment with 296 participants examined whether a diner's mindset can influence their eating choices. One group was instructed to remember a two-digit number before ordering food on the website, while the other group was asked to remember a seven-digit number. For the low “cognitive load” group that memorized the two-digit number, the findings were similar to the previous experiments.
However, participants with a high “cognitive load” who tried to remember the seven-digit number had the opposite result. They are more likely to opt for low-calorie main and side dishes after choosing a high-calorie dessert.
