Change the colour of your plate if you want to lose weight

Looking to lose a bit of weight this summer? Researchers suggest that changing the colour of your plate may actually help.

If you’ve tried every diet under the sun, and you’ve even gone as far as trying a junk food or liquid only diet, but you still find yourself carrying around a spare tyre, then you might want to listen up.

According to researchers at Cornell University, in New York State (an extremely prestigious school), people tend to take much bigger portions of food if the food’s colour matches the colour of the plate it’s being served on. Sounds a bit mad, but remember, this is coming from Cornell...

The study was repeated several times with around 60 different participants used in each test. They were given either a white or a red plate and were then led to a buffet table where pasta was being offered in either a red tomato or white cream sauce.

Those given a plate that matched the colour of their food tended to give themselves a grand awl helping that was 17 to 22 per cent larger than those who had different coloured plates and food.

However, according to the researchers, the actual colour of the food and plates made no difference whatsoever. What actually mattered was the contrast between the two.

Prof Brian Wansink, of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab, said: "People will generally serve themselves far more on a large dinner plate than they would on a smaller one, because the eye is tricked. It seems that colour contrast is one way to block this illusion."

So, if you’re heading out for a nice meal with the missus but you're keeping an eye on that spare tyre, then just make sure to bring a few multi-coloured plates with you - just in case.