Palatability and intake relationships in free-living humans: characterization and independence of influence in North Americans

In order to investigate palatability influences on the ad lib eating behavior of free-living humans, 564 participants were paid to maintain food intake diaries for 7 days. They recorded their intake along with a global rating of the palatability of the entire meal on a seven-point scale. It was found that most meals that are self-selected are palatable and that only 9.3% are rated as unpalatable. Meals that were highest in palatability were 44% larger than meals that were low in palatability, but palatability only accounted for around 4% of the variance in meal sizes. Multiple regression demonstrated that palatability appears to act on intake independent of the levels of other influential factors. These results were very similar to those observed for the French and suggest that palatability operates similarly on intake regardless of culture. Palatability appears to be an influence on the amounts ingested by free-living humans in their natural environments but appears to be only one of many influential factors and accounts for only a small proportion of the variance in intake.