Giving pork the chop: Response inhibition training to reduce meat intake

Abstract

Meat consumption is damaging to the environment, health and animal welfare. Despite a growing interest in reducing meat intake, many people eat too much. This is partly due to the pleasure associated with eating meat. Research has used go/no-go response inhibition training (RIT) to reduce the intake and reward value (liking) of snack foods. However, RIT has not yet been applied to meat. We investigated whether an internet-delivered RIT with meat pictures would reduce meat intake and liking relative to a non-food control RIT condition. Participants (N = 81) were meat eaters with a desire to reduce their intake. They completed four 10-min training sessions in one week. Active participants inhibited responses to meat, and responded to fruits and vegetables. Meat intake was measured using food frequency questionnaires at pre- and one month post-training, and a daily meat diary for one week during training. Liking of meat and other foods was measured at pre- and one month post-training. There was a reduction in meat intake over one month in both groups, with active participants showing a significantly larger decrease than controls. Conditions did not differ in meat intake during the training week. Both groups showed a devaluation of meat, with active participants showing a significantly larger devaluation of food overall, suggesting some generalisation of devaluation effects. The reduced frequency of meat intake was associated with greater devaluation of meat in active but not control participants. These findings suggest that meat RIT helps to reduce meat intake and food liking. Future research should conduct larger randomised controlled trials with longer-term outcomes.