The effects of variety and monotony on food acceptance and intake at a midday meal

Abstract

Across-meal variety was operationally defined as the varying of a midday meal, whereas monotony was defined as serving the same midday meal for 5 days. Acceptance and intake of the meal declined in the monotony week and did not decline in the variety week. Acceptance levels decreased but remained high, demonstrating that monotony can occur with acceptable foods. Intake increased on the final day of testing under the variety condition. The potato product was resistant to monotony for both acceptance and intake, as has been shown for other staple foods. Green beans were sensitive to monotony. Correlations between acceptance and intake were highly significant; they were moderate in the variety condition (averaging r = 0.5) and lower in the monotony condition, suggesting how variety impacts normal varied eating.