Plate clearing and body mass index: a meta-analysis

Larger food portions relate to higher food consumption. Thus, habitually finishing meals by eating the entire portion (so-called plate clearing or plate cleaning) may lead to weight gain. However, findings have been mixed: some studies reported small, positive associations between self-reported plate clearing tendencies and body mass index but other studies did not find a relationship or even reported a negative association. The current study performed a meta-analysis on the correlation between plate clearing tendencies and body mass index. The pooled effect based on 22 samples was r = 0.04 (95% CI [0.02, 0.10]), indicating no relationship between plate clearing and body mass index. A meta-regression indicated that the percentage of women as well as the type of self-report measure moderated the effect, suggesting that there might be a small, positive relationship between plate clearing and body mass index in men and when the Plate Clearing Tendency Scale was used. In conclusion, this meta-analysis does not indicate that habitual plate clearing relates to a higher body weight in general. Whereas self-report biases cannot be excluded based on the current study, persons with plate clearing tendencies may have learned to adjust self-served portion sizes or may compensate caloric intake by increasing energy expenditure, thus preventing weight gain.