The Portion Size Effect and Strategies for Portion Control

Dear Colleagues,

Nutrients is currently running a Special Issue on portion sizes and energy balance.

Existing evidence has shown that exposure to large portions, especially of high energy-dense foods, results in increased energy intake, a phenomenon known as the portion size effect. Portion sizes have increased in recent years, generating the need for coping strategies to avoid overconsumption in an over-sized food environment. While most of the evidence on the effects of large portion sizes has come from controlled laboratory and field studies, a small number of studies indicate that smaller portions may help to reduce daily energy intake; however, more research on the longer-term effects of such strategies is needed. In addition, observational studies are needed to confirm such associations at the population level. This call is for research that addresses these gaps (both reviews as well as original research will be considered).

Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Changes and trends in portion size consumption and their relations with energy balance;
• Individual, population and food level approaches to portion control;
• Portion size management in special situations (childhood, older age, undernutrition, pregnancy, bariatric surgery, other);
• Measurements of portion control practices in adults, children and the elderly;
• Portion size education and training strategies;
• Portion control strategies;
• Tools and technology for portion size control.

Dr. Eva Almiron-Roig
Prof. Marion Hetherington
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.