Does Food Texture Affect How Much We Eat?

A new study in Appetite, claiming it is the first of its kind, looks to see if textural complexity affects satiety regardless of how much time the food stays in one’s mouth. In order to check that, the researchers, led by Danae Larsen, used specially designed foods with either low textural or high textural complexity. These test foods were identical in nutritional density and in flavor, and since the samples were very small the time they typically stayed in the mouth was similar. The basis of the test food was a gel, layered with either just finely ground poppy and sunflower seeds, or with several layers including whole poppy and sunflower seeds, a hard disc of dough and other chewy gums. These 4 bite-size samples were given before an eat-as-much-as-you-please meal, in which the first course was pasta with tomato sauce, and the second was chocolate cake. This was a randomized crossover experiment in which each of the 26 volunteers was assigned to both arms of the experiment.