Food Plate
An order of Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic is pictured with a slice of Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake at a Cheescake Factory restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts July 30, 2014. The dishes both appeared on the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest's (CSPI) Xtreme Eating Awards for 2014. The cheesecake clocks in at 1,500 calories, while the pasta dish has 2,410 calories, the calorie equivalent of a five-hour jog, as well as three days' worth of saturated fat (63 grams) and 1,370 mg of sodium, according to the CSPI. Reuters/Dominick

A new study has found out that table size plays a major role in determining how much one eats and how a person perceives the food it holds.

The study , published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, was conducted with 219 university students and involved pizzas pies of various sizes and proportions. The study has been named “The Behavioral Science of Eating” and the forthcoming issue has been edited by Brian Wansink of Cornell University and Koert van Ittersum of the University of Groningen.

What the researchers did

In order to conduct the pizza study, the researchers divided four large pizzas pies of the same size into smaller pieces (sixteenths) and regular-sized slices (eighths). Then they took four small and large tables to place the pies. Two pies were placed on small tables, a little bigger than a pizza pie. The other two pies were placed on the large tables, much bigger than a pizza pie. Finally, the researchers directed the 219 students to one of the four tables and told them to eat as much as they wished.

What the researchers observed

Students at the small tables thought right about the smaller slices looking around half as big as the regular ones. They also had twice as many. However, students at the larger tables were distracted from the pizzas and were focusing more on the table size and not the pizza slices or how small they were. In other words, the students at the larger tables mistook the smaller slice to be regular slices.

Hence, the students at the larger tables, containing pizza pies with smaller slices, ate same number as the students who saw one with regular slices when they were served on larger tables. The students ate a lot less pizza overall.

What the researchers concluded

In lieu of the experiment, students ate the fewest total calories when a pizza pie was sliced into smaller pieces and placed on a large table, reports EurekAlert.

“To eat less food, serve food in small portions and on large tables," recommends lead researcher Brennan Davis.

Now, that is a helpful weight loss tip that can be followed by many.

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