Big packages, big bodies

Like many of us, I love a good bargain. During these tough economic times, who doesn’t value saving money?

That’s why I bought a Costco membership for the first time. Within days, I was buying all kinds of stuff. You know, things I really needed like a 12-pack of lint-remover brushes, two bathrobes, five calendars featuring scenes of France and enough toothpaste to last me until 2014.

I was also bringing home vast quantities of food: 3-pound containers of ground coffee, 2-pound bags of potato chips, and 4-pound jars of peanut butter.

Not wanting to waste any of this, I was snacking every three hours and cooking meals that could feed eight. In short: I was constantly eating.

But recently, after one too many potato chips, I began to wonder: Do we take bigger handfuls of chips when the bag is gigantic? Is it possible that we scoop out more peanut butter from a barrel-size jar?

Do we eat more food when it comes from a large package as opposed to a smaller container?

Food psychologist, Dr. Brian Wansink, and his team at Cornell University believe we do. These researchers have conducted numerous studies that examine the impact of package-size on our food consumption behavior.

According to Wansink, we look for cues that tell us how much to eat and one of these signs is the size of the package or bottle. Like big portions on our plates, big packages make us believe it’s normal and appropriate to eat more.

One of Wansink’s studies investigated how much spaghetti people eat when given different quantities of ingredients to prepare the pasta meal.

The researchers invited individuals to cook a spaghetti dinner for themselves and their spouses in a community kitchen. Wansink and his colleagues provided the food: half of the volunteers were given a medium-size box of spaghetti, a medium-size jar of pasta sauce, and one pound of ground beef. The other study participants received larger boxes, jars, and packages of all three food items.

After the meal, Wansink and his fellow researchers surreptitiously weighed the amount of pasta, spaghetti sauce, and ground beef remaining in the packages as well as the quantity of the pasta dinner that was prepared by the volunteers but not eaten.

They found that people who were given the large packages of ingredients typically cooked 23 per cent more food than those who received the medium ones.
And more importantly, the Cornell researchers discovered that study participants ate on average 20 to 25 per cent more from larger packages. This same result was observed in other studies besides spaghetti – it didn’t matter what kind of food research volunteers were consuming from a large container.

Apparently, big packages, boxes, and bottles bump up how much food we prepare. We serve ourselves larger amounts and according to Wansink and his team we tend to eat 92 per cent of the portion.

Purchasing large containers of food may seem like a great way to pinch pennies but not if our warehouse club membership leads to overbuying.

One of two things happen when big food packages enter our kitchen: we either throw it out because we’ve grown tired of the food and, before long, it’s gone stale; or we overeat – we can’t stand wasting a crumb even though the food may be well past it’s prime.

We’re not ahead of the game if we end up with a slimmer wallet and a thicker waistline. We need to keep our consumerism in check. And on that note, if anyone wants a free lint-remover brush, drop me a line.

originally published in the Vancouver Courier, September 16, 2009