Watching food-related television increases caloric intake in restrained eaters.

While watching 30-min television (TV) programs that contained either food-related content or non-food-related content, participants were asked to eat two types of candy by explicitly being told that we were interested in how the TV program influenced their taste and therefore they needed to consume some of those candies. The results indicated that there was no overall difference in candy intake based on the TV content; however, the association was moderated by their restrained eating status. Restrained eaters ate more calories while watching a food-related TV program whereas unrestrained eaters were not influenced by the content of the TV program.