Food cues stimulates brain activity and can nudge some customers to overeat due to increased cravings and hunger, suggests a study of the University of Michigan (UM) on UM's website Tuesday.
The study, published in the latest issue of the Clinical Psychological Science, involved 112 college participants, who disclosed their weight, race, gender and other demographics. All were randomly assigned to a fast-food laboratory.
Participants, who ate lunch one hour before the study's trial, could receive tokens to acquire foods typically available at fast-food restaurants, such as a cheeseburger, French fries, milkshake and soft drink.
Tokens could also buy time for an alternate activity, such as playing video games on a tablet. Both the food and game choices appeared on large TV screens.
The study questions focused on wanting, liking and hunger. Wanting is a strong motivation while liking involves pleasure.
When exposed to food-related cues, participants felt more hungry in the fast-food lab than the neutral environment.
The cues, however, did not make a difference in participants liking the food's taste in either environment.
People consumed 220 more calories in fast-food environments that have food-related cues than those who ate in non-cue locations, the study indicated.
It is important for people to arm themselves with knowledge about how food cues can trick them into thinking they are hungry and increasing their desire for food, said Michelle Joyner, a UM psychology graduate student and study's lead author.
"It is hard to avoid food cues in our current environment, but people can try some strategies to minimize their exposure by not going into restaurants and using technology to skip food advertisements in TV shows," Joyner said.
The study has been published in Clinical Psychological Science.
