Have you ever questioned what role texture plays in our daily eating habits? Published in the Journal of Consumer Research, a new study is suggesting that the texture of foods could actually have an impact on calorie consumption.
Led by Dipayan Biswas, a marketing professor at the University of South Florida, the study is proposing that consumers perceive food with either a hard or rough texture to have fewer calories. Aradhna Krishna of University of Michigan and Donald R. Lehmann of Columbia University were also involved in the study.
The study stated that consumers often associate soft and smooth foods with higher calorie amounts rather than hard and rough foods. It is often due to how the food feels in an individual's month - which can affect their perception of how many calories that food actually has and oftentimes influence how much food a person winds up eating.
"We studied the link between how a food feels in your mouth and the amount we eat, the types of food we choose, and how many calories we think we are consuming," the research team explained.
The researchers also found that "'oral haptics-calorie estimation' (OHCE) effect is driven by the lower mastication effort and the higher orosensory perception for soft (vs. hard) and smooth (vs. rough) foods."
The study included five experiments, in which researchers asked participants to sample foods that were hard, soft, rough, or smooth and then measured calorie estimations for the food. In one study, participants were asked to watch then evaluate a series of television ads.
While watching the ads, participants were given cups filled with bite-sized brownie bits as tokens of appreciation for their time. Only half of the participants were questioned about the calorie content of the brownies. Within each of these two groups, half of the participants received brownie bits that were soft and the other half received brownie bits that were hard.
For the participants who were not asked to focus on the calorie content of the brownies, they consumed more softer brownie bits than hard brownie bits, but the participants who were asked to focus on the calorie intake consumed more of the hard brownie than soft ones.
"Understanding how the texture of food can influence calorie perceptions, food choice, and consumption amount can help nudge consumers towards making healthier choices," the research authors concluded.
