For example, the diet provided the names of foods as healthier than salad with identical products with names like "pasta", while non-food indistinguishable.
Dieters also believed that candy labeled "fruit chew" was healthier than the same candy when it was labeled "candy chew," and ate more of the candy when it was called fruit chews, said the University of South Carolina researchers.
"The fact that people's perceptions of healthfulness vary with the name of the food item isn't surprising. What is interesting is that dieters, who try to eat healthy and care about what they eat, fell into these 'naming traps' more than non-dieters who really don't care about healthy eating," study author Caglar Irmak, an assistant professor of marketing, said in a university news release.
The findings from the study of more than 520 people suggest that dieters rely on food names to identify supposedly healthy foods, Irmak explained. Instead, dieters need to focus on reading nutritional information on food products and restaurant menus.
"These results should give dieters pause. The study shows that dieters base their food decisions on the name of the food item instead of the ingredients of the item. As a result, they may eat more than what their dieting goals prescribe," Irmak said.
The study appears in the August issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.
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