Study Reveals One Simple Way to Limit Your Caloric Intake While Snacking

The love affair Americans have with salty snacks is hardly a secret; snacks make up for about a quarter of the daily calories in the average person's diet. However, a new study found the crucial mistake many snackers make, which could result in them consuming a staggeringly greater amount of calories during a nosh session.

In the study, which will be published in the November issue of Food Quality and Preference , researchers with the Penn State Sensory Evaluation Center sought to learn how eating behaviors change when Americans are served a dip with a salty snack. And as it turns out, people consumed 77 percent more calories when pairing chips with a dip, even if they ultimately end up eating the same number of chips.

To come up with the findings, the research team assessed 46 adult participants over the course of two sessions. During these visits, the subjects were served 70 grams, or the equivalent of about 2.5 servings, of ranch-flavored chips—with or without about one-third cup of ranch-flavored dip—and permitted to eat as much as they wanted.

In the recorded sessions, the participants had their overall intake measured, along with factors such as number of bites and active eating time in minutes. The data was then used to calculate measures of "eating microstructure." Researchers ultimately found that there was a greater intake due to participants taking larger bites when there was dip involved.

In fact, participants ended up consuming an average of 345 calories of chips and dip, compared to 195 calories of just the chips alone.

John Hayes, director of the Penn State Sensory Evaluation Center and corresponding author of the study, noted the discrepancy in caloric intake even when there was no difference in chips consumed.

"The most striking findings of our study is that people didn't eat fewer chips when dip was available—they ate the same amount of chips, plus the dip," Hayes explained to Penn State Research . “This lack of compensation means that adding dip to chips can substantially increase overall energy intake without people realizing it.”

Hayes pointed out that most people would assume that when a snack was paired with a dip, that individuals would compensate by eating less of the snack that was a vehicle for the dip. But that just wasn't the case.

“But our research shows this is not the case with chips and dip," he added. "Our participants consumed the same amount of chips regardless of whether dip was present, leading to much greater energy intake when dip was available."

According to the National Institutes of Health , nearly one in three adults in the United States are overweight and more than two in five suffer from obesity.

However, while the study was conducted with a fattier cream-based dip, an easy solution for chips and dip lovers to cut back on the calories would be to simply swap the ranch for a vegetable or legume-based dips such as salsa or hummus . Not to mention, keeping an eye on portion size certainly does not hurt, either.