Eating attentively: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of food intake memory and awareness on eating.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental trials
PubMed 23446890 · doi:10.3945/ajcn.112.045245
What was done
Systematic review and inverse-variance meta-analysis of 24 experimental studies assessing how manipulating cognitive processes (distraction, memory, awareness, or visual feedback) affects immediate or subsequent food intake. Food intake differences between experimental and control groups were calculated as standardized mean differences (SMD), and heterogeneity was evaluated with the I² statistic.
What was found
Distracted eating produced a moderate increase in immediate food intake (SMD: 0.39; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.53) and a larger increase in later intake (SMD: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.45, 1.07), independent of dietary restraint. Enhancing memory of food consumed reduced later intake (SMD: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.12, 0.68), which may depend on tendencies toward disinhibited eating. Removing visual information about food eaten during a meal increased immediate intake (SMD: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.27, 0.68). Enhancing awareness of food being eaten did not show a clear effect on immediate intake (SMD: 0.09; 95% CI: -0.42, 0.35).
Why it matters
These findings indicate that cognitive attention and recall reliably alter short-term food consumption, supporting attentive-eating strategies as potential non-caloric-counting tools for weight management.
Limits
The abstract does not report total participant count, population characteristics, or specific I² heterogeneity values. The data reflect acute experimental intake rather than long-term weight outcomes in free-living conditions.
Cited by
- supports Eating while distracted increases food intake by approximately 15%.