Effects of food form and timing of ingestion on appetite and energy intake in lean young adults and in young adults with obesity

Abstract

Objective: Overweight and obesity have been attributed to increased eating frequency and the size of eating events. This study explored the influence of the timing of eating events and food form on appetite and daily energy intake.

Design: Crossover, clinical intervention where participants consumed 300-kcal loads of a solid (apple), semisolid (apple sauce), and beverage (apple juice) at a meal or 2 hours later (snack).

Subjects: Twenty normal-weight (body mass index 22.6+/-1.8) and 20 obese (body mass index 32.3+/-1.5) adults. There were 10 men and 10 women within each body mass index group.

Measurements: On six occasions, participants reported to the laboratory at their customary midday mealtime. Appetite questionnaires and motor skills tests were completed upon arrival and at 30-minute intervals for the 2 hours participants were in the laboratory and at 30-minute intervals for 4 hours after leaving the laboratory. Diet recalls were collected the next day. Data were collected between January 2006 and March 2007.

Results: Whether consumed with a meal or alone as a snack, the beverage elicited the weakest appetitive response, the solid food form elicited the strongest appetitive response and the semisolid response was intermediate. The appetite shift was greatest for the solid food when consumed as a snack. The interval between test food consumption and the first spontaneous eating event >100 kcal was shortest for the beverage. No significant treatment effects were observed for test day energy intake or between lean individuals and individuals with obesity.

Conclusions: Based on the appetitive findings, consumption of an energy-yielding beverage either with a meal or as a snack poses a greater risk for promoting positive energy than macronutrient-matched semisolid or solid foods consumed at these times.

Figure 1

Mean hunger ratings of 40 adults following ingestion of a meal providing 25% of each individual’s estimated energy requirement (EER) with loads of juice, sauce or whole fruit providing an additional 10% of each individual’s (EER) (left panel) or with the same loads provided 2 hours after the meal (right panel).

Figure 2

Mean fullness ratings of 40 adults following ingestion of a meal providing 25% of each individual’s estimated energy requirement (EER) with loads of juice, sauce or whole fruit providing an additional 10% of each individual’s (EER) (left panel) or with the same loads provided 2 hours after the meal (right panel).

Figure 3

Mean change of hunger and fullness following ingestion of a meal providing 25% of each individual’s estimated energy requirement (EER) with loads of juice, sauce or whole fruit providing an additional 10% of each individual’s (EER) or with the same loads provided 2 hours after the meal.

Figure 4

Mean hunger ratings of 40 adults immediately prior to the ingestion of the first eating episode comprised of ≥100kcal following ingestion of a meal providing 25% of each individual’s estimate energy requirement (EER) and a load contributing 10% of each individual’s EER either with the meal (left panel) or 2 hours after the meal (right panel). Correlation coefficients in each bar represent the correlations between the hunger rating and energy consumed in that eating event.

Figure 5

Mean intervals between the end of the experimental lunch and the first spontaneous eating episode ≥100kcal. The left panel depicts the intervals where the whole fruit, sauce and juice loads were consumed with the meal and the right panel depicts the intervals where the loads were ingested 2 hours after the meal.

Figure 6

Mean daily energy intake when ingesting whole fruit, sauce and juice loads providing 10% of estimated energy requirement (EER) a with a meal providing 25% of each individual’s EER or 2 hours after the meal. The open portion of the bar depicts the energy ingested at the first eating episode comprised of ≥100kcal following ingestion of the meal and load under both time conditions.