The Relationship between Bodyweight Status and Weight Perception Explains Differences in Calories Ordered in a Food Choice Exercise

Mbarushimana, Jean-Claude; Gustafson, Christopher R.; Gitungwa, Henriette; Zeballos, Eliana

doi:10.3390/nu13061794

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The Relationship between Bodyweight Status and Weight Perception Explains Differences in Calories Ordered in a Food Choice Exercise

Jean-Claude Mbarushimana

¹,

Christopher R. Gustafson

^2,*

Henriette Gitungwa

² and

Eliana Zeballos

College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA

Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA

USDA Economic Research Service, Washington, DC 20250, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Roberto Cangemi

Nutrients 2021, 13(6), 1794; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061794

Received: 15 April 2021 / Revised: 14 May 2021 / Accepted: 21 May 2021 / Published: 25 May 2021

(This article belongs to the Section Nutrition and Public Health)

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Abstract

Understanding food choice is critical to be able to address the rise in obesity rates around the globe. In this paper, we examine the relationship between measured (BMI, using self-reported height and weight) and perceived weight status with the number of calories ordered in a controlled online food choice exercise. A total of 1044 participants completed an online food choice exercise in which they selected ingredients for a sandwich from five categories: meat/protein, cheese, spread/dressing, bread, and vegetables. We examine the number of calories ordered by participants and use linear regression to study the relationship of BMI category relative to self-reported perceived weight status with calories ordered. As a comparison to previous literature, we also examine the relationship between relative weight status and self-reported dieting behavior using logistic regression. We find that participants perceiving themselves to have a higher BMI than their BMI calculated using height and weight ordered significantly fewer calories and were more likely to report dieting than participants who perceived themselves to have a lower BMI than their calculated BMI. The relationship between perceived weight status and measured weight status explains behavior in a food choice task. Understanding how people perceive their weight may help design effective health messages. View Full-Text

Keywords: food choice; calories; BMI; perceived weight status; relative weight status; perception

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Mbarushimana, J.-C.; Gustafson, C.R.; Gitungwa, H.; Zeballos, E. The Relationship between Bodyweight Status and Weight Perception Explains Differences in Calories Ordered in a Food Choice Exercise. Nutrients 2021, 13, 1794. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061794

AMA Style

Mbarushimana J-C, Gustafson CR, Gitungwa H, Zeballos E. The Relationship between Bodyweight Status and Weight Perception Explains Differences in Calories Ordered in a Food Choice Exercise. Nutrients. 2021; 13(6):1794. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061794

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mbarushimana, Jean-Claude, Christopher R. Gustafson, Henriette Gitungwa, and Eliana Zeballos. 2021. "The Relationship between Bodyweight Status and Weight Perception Explains Differences in Calories Ordered in a Food Choice Exercise" Nutrients 13, no. 6: 1794. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061794

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