We collect cookies to analyze our website traffic and performance; we never collect any personal data. Cookie Policy
Accept
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Reading: The parable of 200 day by day meals selections: Research challenges widely-cited declare
Share
Font ResizerAa
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Search
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Follow US
NEW YORK DAWN™ > Blog > Health > The parable of 200 day by day meals selections: Research challenges widely-cited declare
The parable of 200 day by day meals selections: Research challenges widely-cited declare
Health

The parable of 200 day by day meals selections: Research challenges widely-cited declare

Last updated: July 7, 2025 10:47 pm
Editorial Board Published July 7, 2025
Share
SHARE

Do we actually make greater than 200 meals selections per day? Such simplistic statements can undermine individuals’s emotions of self-efficacy. Credit score: MPI for Human Growth

Researchers on the Max Planck Institute for Human Growth have critically examined the idea for a incessantly cited determine: that folks make greater than 200 unconscious selections about meals day by day. This determine has circulated in scientific publications, the media, and well being promotion campaigns for almost 20 years with out ever being empirically validated. An article revealed within the journal Urge for food reveals why a extra nuanced view of consuming habits is required.

Numbers play a central position in well being communication, offering steering and motivation. Nonetheless, the benchmarks used are usually not at all times scientifically sound or significant. In well being analysis, the declare that folks make greater than 200 selections about meals day by day with out even noticing has been round for years.

“This number paints a distorted picture of how people make decisions about their food intake and how much control they have over it,” says Maria Almudena Claassen, postdoctoral fellow on the Heart for Adaptive Rationality on the Max Planck Institute for Human Growth.

Along with Director Ralph Hertwig and Jutta Mata, an affiliate analysis scientist on the Max Planck Institute for Human Growth and Professor for Well being Psychology on the College of Mannheim, Claassen has revealed an article that reveals how flawed measurements can result in deceptive concepts about consuming habits.

The place the determine of 200 meals selections per day comes from

The determine of 200 meals selections examined within the article comes from a 2007 examine by U.S. scientists Brian Wansink and Jeffery Sobal. They requested 154 individuals to first estimate what number of selections they made per day about consuming and ingesting—a mean of 14.4.

Subsequent, individuals estimated the variety of “when,” “what,” “how much,” “where,” and “with whom” selections they made for a typical meal. These estimations have been multiplied by the variety of meals, snacks, and drinks they reported consuming in a typical day and summed, giving a mean of 226.7 selections made per day. The authors interpreted the distinction of 212.3 between the 2 estimates as an indicator of unconscious or “mindless” selections.

Why this quantity is problematic

Claassen and her colleagues on the Max Planck Institute for Human Growth problem this conclusion. They determine methodological and conceptual shortcomings inherent within the examine’s design and argue that the discrepancy within the estimated variety of selections might be defined by a well known cognitive impact known as the subadditivity impact. This impact describes individuals’s tendency to offer increased frequency estimates when requested to evaluate a number of particular points of a basic query individually.

The researchers conclude that the excessive variety of “mindless” meals selections shouldn’t be an empirically noticed actuality however reasonably the results of the subadditivity impact.

The analysis workforce additionally warns of the implications that such simplistic statements can have on our understanding of consuming habits. “Such a perception can undermine feelings of self-efficacy,” says Claassen. “Simplified messages like this distract from the fact that people are perfectly capable of making conscious and informed food decisions.”

Why a methodological pluralism in researching meals selections is required

So how can selections about meals be meaningfully outlined and empirically investigated? The researchers suggest defining food-related selections in concrete, context-specific phrases. What’s being eaten? How a lot? What’s being averted? When? In what social or emotional context?

These selections can solely be understood inside the context during which they’re made. They’re based mostly on particular, concrete conditions—comparable to selecting between salad and pasta, or deciding whether or not to skip a serving.

What issues most is specializing in the important thing selections that align with one’s private objectives: for somebody aiming to shed weight, it is likely to be choosing a light-weight salad over pasta at dinner; for somebody striving to eat extra sustainably, it might imply selecting a vegetarian meal as an alternative of a meat-based one.

To empirically map this attitude, the researchers advocate methodological pluralism, combining qualitative observations, digital monitoring instruments, diary research, and cross-cultural analysis to realize a differentiated and real looking image of individuals’s on a regular basis meals selections.

“Magic numbers such as the alleged 200 food decisions do not tell us much about the psychology of eating decisions, even more so if these numbers turn out to be themselves distorted,” says Ralph Hertwig, Director on the Max Planck Institute for Human Growth. “To get a better understanding of eating behavior, we need to get a better grasp of exactly how decisions are made and what influences them.”

Self-nudging can strengthen knowledgeable, health-promoting selections

Armed with this data and understanding of their meals selections, persons are in a greater place to undertake wholesome consuming habits of their on a regular basis lives. One helpful technique for on a regular basis use is self-nudging. It entails designing one’s surroundings in order that more healthy selections are simpler to make. For instance, putting pre-cut items of fruit inside simple attain within the fridge or preserving sweets out of sight may also help individuals stick with their objectives with out continuously having to depend on aware management.

Self-nudging is a part of the boosting method, which, in contrast to nudging, strengthens particular person decision-making competencies reasonably than counting on exterior environment-driven cues.

Extra data:
Maria Almudena Claassen et al, The (mis-)measurement of meals selections, Urge for food (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2025.107928

Supplied by
Max Planck Society

Quotation:
The parable of 200 day by day meals selections: Research challenges widely-cited declare (2025, July 7)
retrieved 7 July 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-07-myth-daily-food-decisions-widely.html

This doc is topic to copyright. Aside from any honest dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.

You Might Also Like

Injured as soon as, triggered ceaselessly? How the mind rewrites stress responses

Microscopy reveals how Hippo pathway proteins management gene exercise in most cancers

Mind peptide ODN reduces starvation and boosts glucose regulation in rat research

‘Weekend warrior’ exercises cut back diabetics’ threat of demise, examine signifies

New technique estimates measles vaccination charges with out up-to-date survey knowledge

TAGGED:challengesclaimDailydecisionsFoodMythstudywidelycited
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print

Follow US

Find US on Social Medias
FacebookLike
TwitterFollow
YoutubeSubscribe
TelegramFollow
Popular News
Researchers discover you don’t want a ton of knowledge to coach LLMs for reasoning duties
Technology

Researchers discover you don’t want a ton of knowledge to coach LLMs for reasoning duties

Editorial Board February 15, 2025
Contained in the high-stakes battle for L.A.’s screening rooms throughout awards season
French Open: Iga Swiatek Dominates in Final to Win Championship
Sea change in most cancers care requires pressing motion to strengthen oncology workforce and care supply, say researchers
CampFire Studio will launch Soulmask DLC on June 5

You Might Also Like

First of its type research explores symptom prevalence throughout the menopause transition
Health

First of its type research explores symptom prevalence throughout the menopause transition

July 26, 2025
Plant virus triggers immune response that targets and destroys most cancers cells
Health

Plant virus triggers immune response that targets and destroys most cancers cells

July 26, 2025
Variety of household caregivers has skyrocketed within the US
Health

Variety of household caregivers has skyrocketed within the US

July 26, 2025
First-of-its form examine reveals psychological toll of warfare in Gaza extends far past the area
Health

First-of-its form examine reveals psychological toll of warfare in Gaza extends far past the area

July 26, 2025

Categories

  • Health
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • World
  • Art

About US

New York Dawn is a proud and integral publication of the Enspirers News Group, embodying the values of journalistic integrity and excellence.
Company
  • About Us
  • Newsroom Policies & Standards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Careers
  • Media & Community Relations
  • Accessibility Statement
Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Customer Care
  • Advertise
  • Licensing & Syndication
  • Request a Correction
  • Contact the Newsroom
  • Send a News Tip
  • Report a Vulnerability
Term of Use
  • Digital Products Terms of Sale
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Submissions & Discussion Policy
  • RSS Terms of Service
  • Ad Choices
© 2024 New York Dawn. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?