Study design: The study has a 2x2 randomized crossover design. All participants receive 5 treatments and are their own control.~Study population: Healthy adults (n=75) between 18-55 years old with a BMI between 18.5-30 kg/m2.~Intervention: Participants will join 5 test days during which they receive, 5 test meals (lunch). The 5 test meals of this study are: 1.) low energy density, hard texture (slow eating rate) 2.) low energy density, soft texture (fast eating rate) 3.) High energy density, hard texture (slow eating rate) 4.) High energy density, soft texture (fast eating rate) 5.) Average energy density and medium hard texture (control). During eating and before and after eating the weight of the plate will be measured to determine intake. Additionally, participants will be recorded on video to determine eating behaviour (number of bites, chews and oral processing duration). The order in which participants will receive the diets will be randomized. The evening before and during each test day participants will keep a food and exercise diary.~Main study parameters/endpoints: The main study outcomes are food and energy intake of each lunch meal. Secondary outcomes are, eating behaviour characteristics measured by video (eating rate (g/min and bites/min), number of chews (chews/bite and chews/gram), bite size (gram/bite), oral processing duration (seconds), appetite (hunger, fullness, desire to eat, desire to eat sweet, desire to eat savoury, prospective consumption) and sensory characteristics (liking (taste + smell), desire to eat the meal, expected satiation, sweet, savoury, smoothness, chewiness, thickness) of the meals. Additional outcomes are individual differences in microstructure of eating, appetite responsiveness, eating Behavior phenotype, interoceptive sensitivity and anthropometry measures. During the trial new technology to capture food intake and eating behavior will be validated which is also an outcome of this trial.
The objective of this study is to determine the independent and additive effects of food texture and energy density on food and energy intake compared to a control condition.