Independent effects of volume and energy density manipulation on energy intake and appetite in healthy adults: A randomized, controlled, crossover study

Consuming enough energy to meet high energy demands can be challenging for military personnel wherein logistical constraints limit food availability. Increasing dietary energy density (ED) and/or volume density (VD) of rations may be countermeasures, but whether positive linear associations between ED and energy intake (EI) hold at moderate-to-high ED and VD is unclear. This study examined the effects of covertly increasing the ED and VD of moderate ED (>= 1.6 kcal/g) foods on appetite and energy intake. Twenty healthy men completed four 2-day treatments in random order by consuming a standardized diet containing three experimental food items (EXP) engineered using leavening, physical compression and fat manipulation to be isovolumetric but lower (L) or higher (H) in ED and VD creating four treatments: LED/LVD, LED/HVD, HED/LVD, HED/HVD. Consumption of EXP was compulsory during two meals and a snack, but remaining intake was self-selected (SSF). Results failed to show any ED-by-VD interactions. During LVD, EI was lower for EXP (-417 kcal [95%CI: 432, -402], p < 0.01) and TOTAL (SSF + EXP) (-276 kcal [95%CI: 470, -83], p = 0.01) compared to HVD, while SSF EI did not differ (140 kcal [-51, 332], p = 0.15). During LED, EI for EXP (-291 kcal [95%CI: 306, -276], p < 0.01) was lower than HED, while SSF EI was higher than HED (203 kcal 95%CI: [12, 394], p = 0.04) and TOTAL EI did not differ (-88 kcal [-282, 105], p = 0.36). Thus, when a small isovolumetric portion of the diet was manipulated, increasing the VD of moderate ED foods failed to elicit compensatory reductions in ad libitum EI while increasing the ED of moderate ED foods did. Findings may support VD manipulation of moderate ED foods as a strategy to promote increased short-term EI in environments wherein logistical burden may limit food volume.