Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Address of corresponding author: Jeon D. Hamm mountsinai. Food portion size influences energy intake, and sustained high-energy intake often leads to obesity. Virtual portion creation tasks VPCTs , in which a participant creates portions of food on a computer screen, predict intake in healthy individuals. The objective of this study was to determine whether portions created in VPCTs are stable over time test-retest reliability and responsive to factors known to influence food intake, such as eating contexts and food types, and to determine if virtual portions can predict weight loss.
Tasks were completed before and 3 months after surgery in patients, and at two visits, 3 months apart, in controls. Body weight kg was recorded at both visits. Virtual portions differed significantly across groups, visits, eating contexts, energy densities low vs. Portions created by controls did not change over time while portions created by patients decreased significantly after surgery, for all contexts except healthy.
For patients, desired and healthy portions predicted 3-month weight loss. VPCTs are replicable, responsive to foods and eating contexts, and predict surgical weight loss. These tasks could be useful for individual assessment of expectations of amounts that are eaten in health and disease and for prediction of weight loss.
Virtual portion creation tasks VPCTs , in which portion sizes of food are created on a computer screen [ 1 ], predict how much individuals plan to eat and will actually eat, and can therefore be considered proxies for intake [ 2 — 4 ]. VPCTs have been primarily used in healthy populations as proxy measures of food intake, mindset [ 5 , 6 ], and to predict severity of illness in patients with anorexia nervosa AN [ 7 , 8 ].
VPCTs and have been used under a variety of eating contexts prompts that reflect current or future intentions for which one is eating, [ 9 ]. Because food intake contributes one side of the energy balance equation, VPCTs could also be used in studies of individuals with obesity. Bariatric surgery is the leading effective treatment of severe obesity [ 10 ], however, after significant weight loss many patients regain weight [ 11 ].
