Expected satiety

Expected satiety is the amount of relief from hunger that is expected from a particular food. It is closely associated with expected satiation which refers to the immediate fullness (post meal) that a food is expected to generate.

Scientists have discovered that foods differ considerably in their expected satiety. One estimate in the United Kingdom suggested that there may be a six-fold difference in foods commonly consumed there, when they are compared calorie for calorie. This range of variation is important because expected satiety is thought to be a good predictor of food choice and an excellent predictor of self-selected portion sizes. Specifically, foods that have high expected satiety and high expected satiation tend to be selected in smaller portions (fewer calories). Therefore, they may be especially suited to diets that are designed to reduce energy intake.

Some researchers also suggest that expected satiety is an important mediator of energy intake. They argue that within-meal events (immediate post-ingestive feedback, e.g., gastric stretch) play a relatively minor role and that meal size is largely determined by decisions about portion size, before a meal begins. Consistent with this proposition, observational studies show that 'plate cleaning' is extremely common, that humans tend to plan their meal size in advance, and that ad libitum eating is relatively rare.