14 DAY TRIAL // According to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), the amount of calories that people consume when eating in fast food restaurants can be reduced through employing special lighting and music. Doing so can also increase consumers' satisfaction with their meal.
Studies such as this are very important for developed countries such as the United Kingdom or the United States, where much of the population is either obese or overweight, and very likely to eat junk food at least once per week.
In a paper published in the latest online issue of the esteemed journal Psychological Reports, the team says that playing relaxing ambient music in a fast food restaurant can lower the amount of calories people consume by as much as 18 percent.
Locations where (for lack of a better word) fancy lighting was installed also appeared to lower calorie intake. The new study was conducted in the laboratory, so researchers say that more work is needed to determine how these two factors would affect eating habits in the real world.
Working together with colleagues at the Cornell University, the team rented the dining area of a Hardee’s restaurant, and then modified it according to the hypothesis of their study. Georgia Tech professor Koert van Ittersum and Cornell professor Brian Wansink led the joint team.
Half of the restaurant looked normal, with loud noises and music, and bright colors and lighting. The other half was soundproof, featured window shades and indirect lighting, and was smoothly bathed in jazz music.
Overall, customers in both areas ordered similar foods, with similar numbers of calories.
However, “those in the fine dining area ate an average of 18 percent less of their meals, even though they spent more time at the table. Those sitting in the fancier area also rated the food as tasting better than those who sat in the traditional dining section,” van Ittersum explains.
In previous investigations, people were found to be less likely to spend a lot of time in a fast food restaurant, if they were exposed to loud noises. They also tended to eat faster.
“These are clues for people who want to control their calories. The more relaxing the environment, the less a person tends to eat,” van Ittersum goes on to say.