Is size important? Effect of portion size on food consumption

Introduction: Adult Hungarian women eat more with 335kcal (1407kJ), Hungarian men with 168kcal (706kJ) than in 1971. This energy amount is present not only on our body, but also on our plate. The food consumption was 609kg/capita/year 35 years ago, and 702kg/capita/year in 2000. The beginning of portion size growth is said to be in the seventies. The „super size“ French fries and soft drink can be twice or even five times bigger than the original and suggested size of one portion.

Aim: The aim was to track changes in portion size and to discover trends. The effect of portion size was studied in 166 young adults (54 men, 32.3% and 112 women, 67.7%; mean age 24.1 years±9.7years).

Results: Most of the portions have substantially increased in their size: e.g. the energy value of a doughnut have risen with 150%, that of a hamburger with 77%, that of small soft drink with 165% and that of one plate of spaghetti with 105%. Forty-two percent of the young adults thought that the portion is bigger, 20% that is smaller, 29% that is the same as 5–10 years ago, and 9% of them had no idea how the size of drinks and foods changed. The consumed amount of food is guided by hunger in 41%, by the usual consumption in 34% and by the received amount in 8% of the population. Seventeen percent of the adults think that the commercially available portion size is the recommended amount of a food.

Summary: The portion size has increased in almost every case, especially that of popular foods. The energy intake resulted from this is dramatically higher than 35 years ago, the increase can be seen compared even to the portion size available 5–10 years ago. There is no doubt that the bigger the consumer packaging, the better the price, but this influences the portion size at home, thus it is essential to make our patients aware of this. The „super size“ foods and drinks have advantages in our purse, but much less on our waist circumference.