• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
nutrition health writer

Thinking Nutrition

For the latest nutrition research and controversies

  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Blog
    • Allergies
    • Cancer
    • Child Health
    • Collagen
    • Diabetes
    • Eating Well
    • Getting Active
    • Gut Health
    • Heart Health
    • Inflammation
    • Managing Weight
    • Mental Health
    • Mythbusting
    • Nutrition Supplements
    • Women?s Health
  • In the Media
  • Services
  • Contact
  • Search
You are here: Home / Eating Well / Foods that make you feel full

Foods that make you feel full

October 14, 2015 by Tim Crowe 2 Comments

foods that make you feel full
Fuel Gauge by Sean MacEntee. CC BY 2.0

What makes a person feel full is not just how much food they’ve eaten, but also the type of food. Now scientists have attempted to rank a variety of foods for how well they can subjectively and objectively make a person feel full.

It is a sad state of life for many in Western countries that the abundance of food available to us, 24 hours a day, is driving weight gain and subsequent medical problems. It is also perhaps a sign of this privilege that researchers are looking for ways to categorise food based on how it can make a person feel full to help curb overeating.

Foods differ in their potential to cause satiety and this can be influenced by the energy (kilojoule) density and the presence of different macronutrients. Low energy dense foods such as salads and fruits generally have a higher satiety effect compared to a similar amount of high energy dense foods such as biscuits or chocolate. Foods higher in protein appear to be more satiating than carbohydrates and fat, while fibre deserves a special mention for its ability to increase feelings of fullness.

There are various laboratory studies that have attempted to objectively rank different foods according to their satiety value. But now researchers have explored more subjective measures of satiety by getting consumers to express their views. Subjective measures of satiety allow for inclusion of factors such as taste and palatability without being overly fixated on nutrient content.

Foods that make you feel full

Involving 1,127 people, an online survey asked for consumers’ views on a range of subjective and objective measures of satiety of 100 different foods. Each food was presented as an image, and questions were asked about its perceived energy content, healthiness, palatability, macronutrient composition, cost and many other factors.

After correcting for the perceived energy content of a food, perceived satiety was associated with lower energy dense foods, lower fat percentage, higher protein content, and higher cost. Perceived satiety was also associated with greater healthiness, weight management, frequency of consumption and greater control of over eating.

Putting all this into context to the actual foods themselves, it was foods such as broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber and rice cakes that had the highest satiety value for minimal kilojoules. It should be no surprise that vegetables feature prominently in satiety rankings due to their mostly low energy density and high fibre content.

Foods ranked lowest for satiety included chocolate, pastries, confectionery and ice cream.

What it all means

There are a myriad of ways to rank foods based on their nutrient, health or satiety value. The common theme among all these methods though is that fruit and vegetables come out on top, and discretionary treat foods high in fat or sugar come out near the bottom. It is making the small sustainable dietary changes to have more of the first, and less of the second, that is the biggest challenge for many.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit

Filed Under: Eating Well Tagged With: hunger, satiety, vegetables

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Troy says

    November 12, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    Another good topic, thanks for posting it Tim.

    It’s interesting I think regarding basic nutrition it seems (in my perception at least) is that we have a lot of the core science down to a tee (i.e. what is relatively better for us versus what isn’t all in context of course) but the case fo dietary adherence is something I think we need to focus more science on.

    The idea of what makes people (outside of genetic factors) choose to consciously eat foods that they know are better for them against what isn’t and why they choose that road too. There’s obviously a myriad of variables in that statement ranging outside basic physiology to environment, culture, socio-economic reasons etc. but it seems clear from what limited knowledge I have that food psychology is something that’s drastically understudied.

    The satiety index of foods from a publication back in 1995 showed the humble white potato to be very filling, if not the most filling of all whole foods tested. I generally find protein very filling but when I combine the effects of protein with boiled white potatoes and some green leafy vegetables I just don’t feel like eating for ages.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Connect with Me

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Sign up for Updates

Loading

Most Popular Posts

  • Broccoli is bad for you, like, really toxic bad
  • Arthritis relief: can collagen supplements help?
  • Lemon water: is it worth the squeeze or just sour hype?
  • How do the plant-based milks compare?
  • Collagen supplements: the science behind the health benefits

Get the book

Now in its fifth edition, Understanding Nutrition is the leading text used in nutrition and dietetics courses in Australia and New Zealand. As one of the coauthors, I step you through core topics such as diet planning, macronutrients, vitamins and minerals and follow this with chapters on diet and health, sports nutrition, lifespan nutrition and food safety.

Footer

Privacy policy

Terms of use

Creative Commons License
All content on Thinking Nutrition by Dr Tim Crowe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and can be reused with attribution.