London: People who eat different types and brands of commonly available food items, such as pizza, are more likely to overeat than people who tend to consume the same brand, says a new study.
In a study of nearly 200 participants, they examined the eating behaviour of people who ate lots of different makes and varieties of pepperoni pizza, and those who tended to consume the same brand and type of pizza.
"We found that people who ate a wide range of different brands and types of pepperoni pizza were more likely to carry on eating more, and were more likely to think the pizza was less filling," said Charlotte Hardman from the University of Liverpool.
The researchers identified over 70 different types of pepperoni pizzas which are available in supermarkets and from well-known takeaway suppliers.
Within these different brands and types, the calorie content differed by more than 300 percent (the lowest was 501 calories per pizza, and the highest contained 1,909 calories per pizza).
They found that participants who regularly ate different varieties of pepperoni pizza failed to compensate for the calories in pizza at a later eating occasion and went on to eat more additional food than the participants who usually ate the same variety of pizza.
These participants also believed that a slice of pepperoni pizza would be less filling.
"It would appear that this high variability of food items makes it more difficult for people to learn about food and manage their consumption which exposes a new feature of Western diets and which has potential public health implications," Hardman added.