Effect of Video Viewing on Food Consumption and Perceived Taste

It has been shown that food environments can affect an individual’s eating behavior. Moreover, a study reported that most Japanese university students tend to eat food while watching videos. However, it was not determined whether eating habits can be influenced by video viewing, especially when considering certain factors, such as sex differences between those who eat and who appear on video. In our experiments, we used three videos with a duration of 90 seconds: (1) male eating popcorn, (2) female eating popcorn, and (3) just popcorn. It was implemented using two patterns of provision methods: the experiment in succession (Study 1) or on a weekly basis (Study 2). The outcome measures were consumption and perceived taste. The results revealed that no significant difference was observed in consumption and perceived taste regardless of sex difference. After adjusting for perceived satiety, no differences in the results of our experiments of consumption and perceived taste were observed. On the other hand, when conducting our feeding experiments, it was suggested to conduct them once a day to eliminate the effect of perceived taste. It was also suggested that factors other than the kind of video and sex differences may be related to the short-term eating consumption and perceived taste.