Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
8838418 Food Quality and Preference 2018 4 Pages PDF
Abstract
The perception of food as a snack or a meal influences later caloric consumption (Capaldi, Owens, & Privitera, 2006). In the past 40 years, the intake of snacks increased and main meals decreased in American adults (Kant & Graubard, 2015), but gender differences in which foods are perceived as snacks vs. meals has not been directly investigated. Here, we asked a college-aged sample of men and women to categorize a list of foods as snacks or meals. Two follow-up studies were also conducted that offered a greater assortment of food and the addition of more complex answer choices. All surveys showed that men categorized more foods as snacks as compared to women, particularly sweet and energy-dense foods. These results suggest that snack and meal perceptions by men and women may be reflective of actual eating patterns.
Related Topics
Life Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences Food Science
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