Start healthier after buffet

First said three food items seen covers 66 percent of your total plate, researcher

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, November 21, 2013 HealthDay News)-to put healthier foods in the beginning of a buffet table can help diners pass more fattening foods, according to a new study.

The researchers found that when healthy foods is seen first, people are more likely to choose them and less likely to crave for higher-calorie foods that may be further down the buffet line.

"Every food is taken in part to determine what other foods that a person chooses," said the researchers. "In this way, triggering the first food a person chooses what they do next."

The study was published recently in the journal PLoS One, researchers two breakfast buffets 124 persons. In the first buffet met participants healthy food, like fruits, low-fat yogurt and low-fat granola, first. In the other was high-calorie foods, such as cheesy eggs, fried potatoes and bacon, at the beginning of the line.

The study showed that when healthy food was offered first, 86 percent of the Diners picked fruit. But when the more fattening foods was seen first, only 54 percent took the fruit. Similarly, when high-calorie foods were at the front of the buffet line, 75 percent of the participants chose the cheesy eggs, compared with 29 percent of those on line healthy buffet.

"The first three foods that a person was found in the buffet made up 66% of their total plate, regardless of whether the items were high or low-calorie foods," said behavioral Economist Brian Wansink, Cornell University, in a press release.

The order for food in a buffet played a role in what the participants chose to add his plate, said the researchers, who called this a "trigger effect."

"There is an easy take-aways for us: always start healthier after the buffet," Wansink said. "Two-thirds of the plate will be good stuff. "