How seeing food triggers eating—out of sight, out of mind.
What the evidence says
- Visible food triggers consumption more than hidden food[1]
- Eye-level placement increases selection/consumption — and both measurements are of *retail purchasing*, not of eating at home: an alternating-treatments in-store experiment across two supermarkets over four months found middle-shelf (123 cm) placement roughly doubling a brand's share of category sales against the high shelf (7.5% vs 3.3%), with a smaller consistent advantage in the second store, and Dutch supermarket scanner data models eye level (shelf levels 3–4 of 5) as the highest-selling vertical position. The proposed mechanism in both is response effort — less visual and physical effort to notice and reach a middle shelf[2],[3]
- Transparent vs opaque containers: effect depends on food type — clear containers increase consumption of small snacks (the 58%-more-M&Ms figure is NOT in cpi25's held abstract — it comes from this library's own notes on the paper, whose full text is paywalled) but decrease consumption of large foods and vegetables[4]
- Visual feedback on amount consumed (e.g., accumulated shells) reduces intake[5]
- In-shell pistachios resulted in 41% fewer calories consumed than shelled—effort and visual feedback moderate intake[6]