Six diet “truths” touted by research whiz Brian Wansink were sunk this week when JAMA’s editorial board retracted studies co-authored by the so-called nutrition guru.
That brings Wansink’s total retraction count up to 13 and, with 15 other studies having already been formally corrected, things are looking dire for the Cornell nutrition researcher, Ars Technica reported.
Wansink’s career has been built upon some interesting findings, which have been widely accepted by media, health authorities and food businesses. He was a driving force behind the 100-calorie snack packet.
Here are six of Wansink’s diet “truths” and links to the papers or studies behind them that have been retracted:
- Plate size influences portion sizes: This study presented the concept of “portion distortion,” which suggested a person eating from a larger plate or serving bowl would eat more food.
- Fasting causes starch cravings: The theory behind this report was that a person who had not eaten for 18 hours would favor starchy foods and neglect their veggies.
- Making kids “clean their plates” can backfire: Parents encouraging their children to “clean their plates,” were led to believe through this report that their efforts could lead to their children requesting more food when away from home.
- Don’t shop when you’re hungry: For years Wansink had shoppers believe that, if they browsed the aisles while hungry, they would be more prone to choosing high-calorie foods that were not necessarily as nutritious.
- Preordering school lunch promotes healthier food choices: The concept for this study was that spontaneous food selection was hunger-based therefore, if students were to preorder their lunch, they would make better food choices.
- Don’t eat and watch action movies: This report led people to believe that they would eat more food mindlessly while watching action movies as they were too distracted to pay attention to whether they were full or not.
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