Want to stop snacking? Try eating off a red plate. According to a research team from the Institute of Psychology at Basel University, people drink less from red cups and eat less when snacks are served to them on red plates.
In their first experiment, the team asked study participants to drink sweet drinks from plastic cups, half of which had blue stickers and the other half red.
The people given red-stickered cups drank about 40 percent less than the others, irrespective of what they thought of the taste.
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Then, in their second experiment, study participants were given pretzels on red, blue or white plates and told they could eat as many as they liked. The people with red plates ate more than 50 percent less than the others did.
The researchers say the study results — which were published in the scientific journal Appetite — are the first step to understanding how colours may influence food consumption, in this case, whether the colour red acted as a sort of subconscious ‘stop sign’.
The study also raises intriguing questions about whether colours can be used to help people to lose weight or avoid unhealthy foods.
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