Research
Energy balance
Reducing exposure to larger-sized food portions, packages, and tableware could reduce average daily energy intake by 144-228 kcal (8.5-13.5%) in UK children and adults if sustained across the whole diet.
If you want to eat less without counting calories, buy smaller packages and use smaller plates. This simple change can save you over 100 calories a day on average.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
The size of this effect suggests that, if sustained reductions in exposure to larger-sized food portions, packages and tableware could be achieved across the whole diet, this could reduce average daily energy consumed from food by between 144 and 228 kcal (8.5% to 13.5% from a baseline of 1689 kcal) among UK children and adults.
Why this rating
Based on moderate quality evidence for consumption, but the extrapolation to 'whole diet' is an assumption.
Source
Portion, package or tableware size for changing selection and consumption of food, alcohol and tobacco
Gareth J Hollands et al. · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · 2015
DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd011045.pub2
Meta-analysis · 72 studiesCited 329×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Exposure to larger-sized portions, packages, or tableware consistently increases the quantity of food and non-alcoholic beverages selected and consumed by both adults and children.Moderate
- Exposure to shorter, wider bottles or glasses (vs. taller, narrower) increases the quantity of non-alcoholic beverages selected and consumed.Weak
- There is no clear evidence that portion, package, or tableware size affects the selection or consumption of alcohol or tobacco products.Weak
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