Monotonous consumption of fibre-enriched bread at breakfast increases satiety and influences subsequent food intake

Dietary fiber in bakery products: Source, processing, and function

Bakery products are prevalently consumed foods in the world, and they have been regarded as convenient dietary vehicles for delivering nutritive ingredients into people's diet, of which, dietary fiber (DF) is one of the most popular items. The food industry attempts to produce fiber-enriched bakery products with both increasing nutritional value and appealing palatability. As many new sources of DFs become available, and consumers are moving towards healthier diets, studies of using these DFs as functional ingredients in baked goods are becoming vast. Besides, the nutrition value of DF is commonly accepted, and many investigations have also revealed the health benefits of fiber-enriched bakery products. Thus, this chapter presents an overview of (1) trends in supplementation of DF from various sources, (2) impact of DF on dough processing, quality and physiological functionality of bakery products, and (3) technologies used to improve the compatibility of DF in bakery products.

Colour, pleasantness, and consumption behaviour within a meal

It is often claimed that colour (e.g., in a meal) affects consumption behaviour. However, just how strong is the evidence in support of this claim, and what are the underlying mechanisms? It has been shown that not only the colour itself, but also the variety and the arrangement of the differently-coloured components in a meal influence consumers' ratings of the pleasantness of a meal (across time) and, to a certain extent, might even affect their consumption behaviour as well. Typically, eating the same food constantly or repeatedly leads to a decrease in its perceived pleasantness, which, as a consequence, might lead to decreased intake of that food. However, variation within a meal (in one or several sensory attributes, or holistically) has been shown to slow down this process. In this review, we first briefly summarize the literature on how general variety in a meal influences these variables and the major theories that have been put forward by researchers to explain them. We then go on to evaluate the evidence of these effects based mainly on the colour of the food explaining the different processes that might affect colour-based sensory-specific satiety and, in more detail, consumption behaviour. In addition, we also discuss the overlap in the definitions of these terms and provide additional hypothesis as to why, in some cases, the opposite pattern of results has been observed.

Reasons for eating 'unhealthy' snacks in overweight and obese males and females

BACKGROUND

Snack foods are often high in fat and sugar. Thus, reducing snack consumption may be a useful weight management strategy. However, individuals may snack for a variety of reasons with different implications for intervention. The present study examined the perceived reasons for eating main meals, 'unhealthy' snacks (i.e. snacks high in fat or sugar) and 'healthy' snacks in overweight and obese participants.

METHODS

Over a period of 5 days, 28 males and 27 females completed a food diary every time they ate. As well as providing details about the type of eating episode and food eaten, they also rated their agreement with 13 different reasons for eating (identified from relevant literature and a pilot study).

RESULTS

Across a total of 1084 eating episodes, 358 were coded as snacks, 79% of which were high in either fat or sugar. The results showed that hunger and temptation (external eating) were reported as a reason for eating unhealthy snacks in 49% and 55% of all episodes, respectively. Eating because the individual was feeling fed up, bored or stressed (emotional eating) was given as a reason in 26% of episodes.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings point to the potential utility of intervention strategies that target cravings, enhance self-control or promote stimulus control.