Plate Clearing and Body Mass Index: A Meta-Analysis

Current food environments are characterized by larger food portions, which contribute 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.

This meta-analysis does not indicate that habitual plate clearing relates to a higher body weight in general. While self-report biases cannot be excluded based on the current study, the absence of an observed association highlights the need for further exploration into why this relationship is not evident.