Evaluation of Portion Perception, Body Perception and Obesity in Adults

Ayçıl Özturan Şirin; İkbal Daşkın Yüz

doi:10.58625/jfng-3070

Authors

Ayçıl Özturan Şirin Aydın Adnan Menderes University / Türkiye https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2145-3626
İkbal Daşkın Yüz Aydın Adnan Menderes University / Türkiye https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8147-1043

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58625/jfng-3070

Keywords:

Portion perception, body perception, delboeuf illusion

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of obesity status, body image and gender on visual estimation of plate size and portion sizes.

Material and Method: Analytical-cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire with 264 adults aged 18-65 between October 2023-September 2024. The research questionnaire consists of 4 sections: personal information, anthropometric measurements, body perception scale and visuals related to portion perception.

Results: Participants were 26% men (n=68) and 74% (n=196) women, and the mean age was 24.08±7.13 and 25.72±8.05 years for women and men, respectively. The mean body mass index (BMI) of the participants was 22.34±4.02 and 27.58±12.15 kg/m2 for women and men, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the estimations related to the portion size of lettuce presented in different portions according to gender, but there was a statistically significant difference between the correct estimation rates in half portion and one and a half portion presentations of potatoes and one and a half portion presentations of apples (p<0.05). According to the evaluation with BMI, a statistically significant difference was found between the correct estimates of one-and-a-half portion presentations for all foods (p<0.05). In the evaluation made according to the body perception scale, no statistically significant difference was found in the correct estimation of the portion sizes between any of the groups (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Gender and BMI have a limited effect on portion perception, while body perception is not an effective factor on portion perception.

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