Slow food, fast food.

A number of studies showed that high eating rate leads to more food intake. Eating rate is influenced by the texture of the food. Hard solid foods are consumed slower than more softly textured foods. This results in lower food intakes and lower values of expected satiation for softly textured foods, as found in previous studies. A lower eating rate may also affect satiety, because it was shown to enhance the release of satiety hormones. Reductions in food intake as a result of food texture may therefore lead to a sustained decrease in energy intake over the day.

1. A meal consisting of harder-textured foods leads to lower energy intake at a lunchtime meal compared to a meal with softer-textured foods;

2. The decreased energy intake of the meal composed of harder-textured foods will not be compensated at the next meal;

3. The texture of the meal will significantly change consumers eating behaviour (i.e. differences in eating rate, oral residence time and bite size of harder and softer foods/meals).

Lunch and Dinner.

The study will be a within-subjects cross-over design that consists of two lunches with softer-textured foods and harder-textured foods. Fifty subjects will consume ad-libitum from the lunches and from a meal during dinnertime to investigate if energy intake will be compensated.