Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2013 Aug 1;10:92. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-10-92.
Given the worldwide prevalence of overweight and obesity, there is a clear need for meaningful practical healthy eating advice - not only in relation to food choice, but also on appropriate food portion sizes. As the majority of portion size research to date has been overwhelmingly quantitative in design, there is a clear need to qualitatively explore consumers' views in order to fully understand how food portion size decisions are made. Using qualitative methodology this present study aimed to explore consumers' views about factors influencing their portion size selection and consumption and to identify barriers to appropriate portion size control.
Ten focus groups with four to nine participants in each were formed with a total of 66 persons (aged 19-64 years) living on the island of Ireland. The semi-structured discussions elicited participants' perceptions of suggested serving size guidance and explored the influence of personal, social and environmental factors on their food portion size consumption. Audiotapes of the discussions were professionally transcribed verbatim, loaded into NVivo 9, and analysed using an inductive thematic analysis procedure.
The rich descriptive data derived from participants highlight that unhealthy portion size behaviors emanate from various psychological, social and behavioral factors. These bypass reflective and deliberative control, and converge to constitute significant barriers to healthy portion size control. Seven significant barriers to healthy portion size control were apparent: (1) lack of clarity and irrelevance of suggested serving size guidance; (2) guiltless eating; (3) lack of self-control over food cues; (4) distracted eating; (5) social pressures; (6) emotional eating rewards; and (7) quantification habits ingrained from childhood.
Portion size control strategies should empower consumers to overcome these effects so that the consumption of appropriate food portion sizes becomes automatic and habitual.
鉴于超重和肥胖在全球的流行，显然需要有意义的实用健康饮食建议——不仅与食物选择有关，还与适当的食物份量有关。由于迄今为止大多数关于份量的研究在设计上都过于注重定量，因此，显然需要从质的方面探讨消费者的观点，以便充分了解食物份量决策是如何做出的。本研究采用定性方法，旨在探讨消费者对影响其份量选择和消费的因素的看法，并确定适当份量控制的障碍。
在爱尔兰岛生活的 66 人（年龄 19-64 岁）中，组成了 10 个每组 4-9 人的焦点小组。半结构式讨论引出了参与者对建议份量指导的看法，并探讨了个人、社会和环境因素对其食物份量消费的影响。讨论的录音带由专业人员逐字逐句转录，加载到 NVivo 9 中，并使用归纳主题分析程序进行分析。
参与者提供的丰富描述性数据表明，不健康的份量行为源于各种心理、社会和行为因素。这些因素绕过了反思性和深思熟虑的控制，并汇聚在一起，构成了健康份量控制的重大障碍。有七个明显的健康份量控制障碍：（1）建议份量指导缺乏清晰度和相关性；（2）无罪感的饮食；（3）缺乏对食物线索的自我控制；（4）分心的饮食；（5）社会压力；（6）情绪化饮食的奖励；（7）从童年时期就根深蒂固的量化习惯。
份量控制策略应该使消费者有能力克服这些影响，从而使适当的食物份量消费变得自动和习惯化。
