MyPlate, Half-Plate, and No Plate: How Visual Plate-Related Dietary Benchmarks Influence What Food People Serve

Introduction The objective of this article is to analyze whether visual plate-related dietary guidance systems - such as the MyPlate guideline or the Half-Plate Rule - help people eat better when dining at home or in restaurants. Methods To help explore this, 104 young adults were randomly assigned to follow either (1) USDA MyPlate guidelines, (2) the Half-Plate Rule, or (3) no guidelines (control condition). They then used their assigned guidelines to complete the survey while eating a dinner of their choice. They completed a food diary for the meal and then completed a survey about their experience. Results Both the two visual dietary guidance systems (My Plate and the Half-Plate Rule) were considered easy to understand and easy to follow, and they left people with fewer questions about what to eat (all p < 0.01). Understandability is important because those people who rated a system "easy to follow" indicated they had consumed less meat than usual (r = 0.268), but understandability was uncorrelated with fruit and vegetable intake (r = 0.092) and carbohydrate intake (r = 0.069). Conclusions There are three key conclusions to these and other findings: first, the simplest guidance system may be more effective than none. Second, even the most perfect dietary guidance system will not change behavior if (a) the foods are not available, or (b) it is not followed. Third, guidance systems could over-increase the consumption of some foods (such as dairy) they specifically mention, presumably because it makes them more salient in one's mind.