14 DAY TRIAL // Nutritionists have often warned of the hidden dangers of low-calorie or light versions of richer products, saying that, in order to compensate for a poorer taste, they come packed with added ingredients and preservatives of all kinds, which, in the end, actually lead to more weight gain. Another reason why one might not be able to shake off the pounds with such light versions is also due to its poorer taste, which might push the dieter to overeat the good stuff, a study cited by the Daily Mail reveals.
Volunteers were offered two types of spaghetti bolognese for lunch: the regular version and a diet-ready one. At the start of the study, both groups said the taste was the same and all participants expressed a liking for the dish served. Days later, those in the “diet” group were less enthusiastic about the dish, even if they couldn’t actually pinpoint what was bothering them. As it turns out, it could be that diet foods are partly responsible for the obesity epidemics, since they push dieters off the diet and towards overeating the good stuff, speculation goes.
“Men and women given low-calorie spaghetti bolognese lost their taste for the dish in just five days. In contrast, those who tucked into a normal version of the lunch liked it as much at the end of the week as at the start. The finding may help explain why so many people find it hard to stick to a diet. Although diet foods may seem like a hassle-free way of cutting calories, we may quickly ditch them in favor of the real thing – and pile back on the pounds,” the Mail says of the study conducted by researchers at The Bristol University.
“The volunteers’ expectations of how much the low-fat pasta would fill them up did not change during the study, but may have fallen over a longer period of time, [researcher Jeffrey Brunstrom said]. Although it is well known that we quickly get to like fatty and sugary foods, the study is the first to show that we can go off the more healthy alternatives just as rapidly. But it is not all bad news for diet foods. The researchers, who were part-funded by Nestle, explained that ‘low-energy dense varieties’ of food – such as yoghurt and low-fat spreads and ice cream – are common in many cultures,” the publication further informs.
According to Brunstrom, diet foods mostly appeal to those who are caught in the vicious circle of yo-yo dieting. A better alternative to these products would be to include the regular version in our diet – and only reduce the quantities.