Advertisements for desserts – should they include bite marks?

Those in the business of marketing desserts might be interested in new research from Donya Shabgard at the University of Manitoba, US, who has investigated, possibly for the first time, the influence of an advertisement’s dessert portrayal on consumer perceptions of desirability. Specifically, should advertisements show desserts with a bite taken out of them or […]

Tea & coffee diet: Theory of everything

To gain quick fame as a biomedical seer, explain how a person can grow slim (or fat) by drinking coffee (or tea). This newly published study gives you fodder for devising your Theory of Everything. Good luck! “Molecular mechanisms of the anti-obesity effect of bioactive compounds in tea and coffee,” by Min-Hsiung Pan, Yen-Chen Tung, Guliang Yang, Shiming […]

Food-chewing-noise patent application

“Successful dieting requires long-term behavior modification in terms of eating and physical activity. A diet plan is only one part of the solution. Sticking to the plan requires behavior modification that is generally beyond the ability of most people to implement without external assistance.” An invention, designed to provide assistance on such occasions is proposed […]

A logistical support bra for regulating eating behavior

BBC News reports “Microsoft working on a smart bra to measure mood.” The researchers, some of whom are at Microsoft Research, others at the University of Rochester, NY, USA and at the University of Southampton, UK, themselves report details in a paper: “Food and Mood: Just-in-Time Support for Emotional Eating,” Erin A. Carroll [pictured here], Mary Czerwinski, […]

Swithers: “Counterintuitive… derangements” from diet soda

Everyone loves a counterintuitive scientific paper, unless they don’t like it. Here’s a new counterintuitive scientific paper: “Artificial sweeteners produce the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements,” Susan E. Swithers [pictured here], Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, epub 2013. The author, at Purdue University, explains: “The negative impact of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages on weight and other […]

The Vegetarian’s Pet Dilemma

A vegetarian who keeps a carnivorous pet might encounter a dilemma : such as described in a (forthcoming) paper for the journal Appetite. ‘A meaty matter. Pet diet and the vegetarian’s dilemma’  The author, Dr. Hank Rothgerber, from the Psychology faculty at Bellarmine University, Louisville, Kentucky, US, “… specifically focused on the conflict that pits […]