"Light" Does Not Make You Slimmer in The Long Term

17 May 2016 --- New Dutch research has shown that offering "light" varieties of candies, soft drinks or snacks only leads to over-consumption of these low-calorie products in the long-term, and does not contribute to the reduction of obesity in the population.

This was demonstrated in a recent study by the Wageningen Marketing Professor Joost Pennings. The study was published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing.

It has already been demonstrated that consumers eat more ‘light’ crisps once they have switched to them. However, now it appears that this behavior persists even a full year later. In fact, next to the "light" versions, they also once again consume the familiar varieties of their favorite candies. 

On average, they buy 13% more calories the year after their first ‘light’ purchases than compared to the previous year. This is why the research team made up of Kathleen Cleeren (KU Leuven), Kelly Geyskens, Maastricht University, Peter C. Verhoef (University of Groningen) and Joost Pennings (Wageningen University) advises the government to exercise care when promoting "light" products.

Limiting obesity
Curbing the lifestyle disease of obesity has been a concern of the government for decades. The food industry is seeking to benefit from this development and therefore offers "light" versions of crisps, candy and soda, for example. The health claim that these products contain fewer calories per 100 grams may be true, but because more is consumed this claim is counterproductive. Pennings explains: "People feel guilty when they eat something that makes them fat, but if they switch to "light", they seem to immediately eat more of the product. This then becomes a habit, where they not only eat the "light" version, but to a certain extent often also return to the regular variety." It is the first time that this long-term effect has been scientifically established after one year.

The study focused on the consumption of "light" crisps, but according to Professor Pennings the claims extend to all "hedonistic" products, including candies and soda, which mostly have a pleasure function. 

The researchers relied on information from market researcher GfK, which followed the purchases of a sampling of households. The researchers chose households that had just switched to "light" crisps and counted the corresponding amount of calories. According to Joost Pennings, the results also apply to other Western European countries and the United States.

Due to these findings, Pennings and his colleagues believe that the government should be careful in its promotion of "light" products: ""Light" is not bad but we must be aware of the psychological impact of the claim. If we want overweight people to actually consume fewer calories, we need to educate them better."