Why people who consume 'fitness foods' often end up eating more

Have you been making a conscious effort to eat healthy food, but the diet's still not working? A new study published in the Journal of Marketing Research offers an explanation.

Foods such as energy bars and breakfast cereals are often packaged to associate them with the idea of fitness, but a new study shows that such "fitness branding" actually encourages consumers to eat more of these foods and exercise less, potentially sabotaging any efforts to lose or control one's weight.

"Unless a food was forbidden by their diet, branding the product as 'fit' increased consumption for those trying to watch their weight," write authors Joerg Koenigstorfer of Technical University of Munich and Hans Baumgartner of Pennsylvania State University.

"To make matters worse, these eaters also reduced their physical activity, apparently seeing the 'fit' food as a substitute for exercise."

Marketers frequently use fitness cues such as product names referring to fitness or pictures of athletes on food packages, say the authors. For example, Nestlé's cereals and cereal bars called Fitness are sold worldwide, and Kellogg's often shows athletes on the boxes of its cereals.