Expectancies, dietary restraint, and test meal intake among undergraduate women

This study investigated the relationship between self-reported dietary restraint and expectancies about caloric content on test meal consumption among undergraduate women. Participants completed two test meal sessions during which they were asked to consume as much milkshake from a covered opaque container as they wished. In one session, participants were instructed that the milkshake was made with high-calorie ingredients, and in the other that the milkshake was made with low-calorie ingredients. The milkshakes in both sessions were actually made with the same ingredients. Participants' mean consumption was less on the low-calorie instruction day (402 g) than on the high-calorie instruction day (382 g), but the difference was not statistically significant. In addition, few significant relationships were observed between dietary restraint measures and total intake on either the low- or high-calorie instruction days. Thus, this study supports a growing body of literature indicating that scores on measures of dietary restraint are not related to the actual restriction of food intake.