The Health Halo Effect: How it Makes You Gain Weight
Dr Chandon, co-author of The Biasing Health Halos of Fast-Food Restaurant Health Claims had produced two questionnaires which were used by the New York Times in a survey.
They found that, when New York residents were shown pictures of an Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad and 20-ounce Pepsi, they estimated that it contained 1,011 calories (the actual figure was 934 calories).
But when the pictures included two crackers labelled "Trans Fat Free", something surprising happened. People's estimates changed: the crackers added 100 calories to the meal, making it 1,034 calories, but the average estimates for the whole meal were only 835 calories.
When the New York Times showed the same photos to tourists, the estimates for the meal with crackers were much more realistic. Dr Chandon suggested that:
It makes sense that New Yorkers would be more biased because of all the fuss in the city about trans fat. It hasn't been a big issue in most other places.
This was only a small experiment for journalistic purposes, but Dr Chandon's previous research, along with other studies, suggests that the presence of "low fat" labels will cause consumers to underestimate the calorific content of a food, to eat larger helpings, and to indulge in other foods (such as dessert).
Be aware of the "health halo" effect when you next see a product labelled "lite" or "healthy". Check the figures and look at fat, sugar and salt content, as well as the total calories per serving. As Dr Chandon says:
People need to look up calorie information, and this information needs to be clearly available on the menu or on the front of packages.
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I eat unhealthy foods as well, but I am also trying to live active life and burn them.
Sometimes we have to eat bad foods too. We are humans after all:)
ReplyAh, yes. I like to call this the "Snackwell's effect". I remember when Snackwell's Fat Free cookies came on the market back in the day. My mom was so overjoyed that there was finally a fat free cookie that tasted good. So we bought a bunch of different kinds and I remember that they really tasted like, well, frosted cardboard. My mom ate them for a while, but she stopped buying them when she realized that they actually had the same number of calories as regular cookies (which tasted WAY better). I guess a lot of people felt that way because Snackwell's weren't that popular for too long.
I myself fell into the "healthy halo" trap when it came to ice cream. I used to eat bowls of fat free or sugar free ice cream with the idea that if it was fat free, it must be healthy. So I would go through a 1/2 gallon box of fat free ice cream every week...needless to say, I gained a bit of my hard-earned lost weight back. Once I started eating portion-controlled REAL ice cream bars instead of ice cream in a bowl when I wanted ice cream, I lost the weight.
ReplyThere's also been research done on how much more low fat yoghurt people eat when, low fat doesn't mean low calorie... what it generally means is 'more sugar.' Funny thing though, children who still respond to their internal hunger mechanism don't fall for the same halo effect.
ReplyI do this, sadly. This will cause me to pay more attention though!
-DonnaLynn, in sunny re-electrified Hawaii
ReplyI am reminded of the all time American irony.
"A double cheeseburger with large fries and A DIET coke"
P. Venkatraman
ReplyI wouldn't laugh at that. A couple hundred calories saved, is a couple hundred calories saved. If you are used to the taste of diet soda but not a tofu burger, it makes since.
ReplySneaky...
ReplyAre you kidding me... I can't count how many times I have been on the computer looking up a restaurants nutrition info while my stomach is growling to death before I actually go to the restaurant. Only a novice would fall for this.
Reply