Abstract
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are thought to be problematic for weight management because energy delivered in liquid form may be less effective at suppressing appetite than solid foods. However, little is known about the relative ‘expected satiation’ (anticipated fullness) of SSBs and solid foods. This is relevant because expected satiation is an important determinant of portion selection and energy intake. Here, we used a method of constant stimuli to assess the expected satiation of test meals that were presented in combination with different caloric and non-caloric beverages (500 ml) (Experiment 1 and 2), as well as with high-energy solid snack foods (Experiment 2). All energy-containing beverages and snack foods were presented in 210 kcal portions. Both experiments found that expected satiation was greater for meals containing caloric versus non-caloric beverages (201.3 ± 17.3 vs. 185.4 ± 14.1 kcal in Experiment 2; p < 0.05). Further, Experiment 2 showed that this difference was greater in participants who were familiar with our test beverages, indicating a role for learning. Notably, we failed to observe a significant difference in expected satiation between any of the caloric beverages and snack foods in Experiment 2 (range: 192.5–205.2 kcal; p = 0.87). This finding suggests that it may be more appropriate to consider beverages and solid foods on the same continuum, recognizing that the expected satiation of some solid foods is as weak as some beverages.
Highlights
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are thought to be problematic for weight management because energy delivered in liquid form may be less effective at suppressing appetite than solid foods
We used a method of constant stimuli to assess the expected satiation of test meals that were presented in combination with different caloric and non-caloric beverages (500 ml) (Experiment 1 and 2), as well as with high-energy solid snack foods (Experiment 2)
We suspect that comparisons between ‘liquid’ and ‘solid’ calories may be of limited benefit because this level of analysis fails to capture the large differences in satiety that are generated even across solid food forms (Brunstrom, Shakeshaft, & Scott-Samuel, 2008; Holt, BrandMiller, Petocz, & Farmakalidis, 1995)
Summary
Participants completed 56 trials per test meal in order to derive a point of subjective equality (PSE) between the test meal and the comparison meal of rice and vegetables This PSE represents the amount of rice (in kcal) that is expected to deliver the same satiation as the test meal. For each participant, there were three PSEs which corresponded to the average satiation of a meal paired with SSB vs LES vs Water These PSEs are hereafter referred to as expected satiation values. A difference score was calculated between the expected satiation values of the SSB and LES meals (SSB minus LES) This difference score provides a specific measure of the participants' ability to discriminate between the non/-caloric beverages, with positive scores indicating that meals containing a SSB were expected to deliver more satiation than the same meals paired with an LES. Effect size was assessed for the repeated measures analyses using partial eta-squared (n2p), where a small effect is ~0.02, a medium effect ~ 0.13, and a large effect ~ 0.26 (Cohen, 1988)
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