Choosing the right colour plate to serve dinner on could help you lose weight, say German and Swiss researchers.

Making Recipes Healthier

According to a study published in the journal Appetite, eating food off red-coloured plates and drinking from red cups can cut consumption by approximately 40 percent, reports the UK’s Daily Telegraph.

Scientists claim that people relate the colour red to "danger" and "stop" signals, so associating red with eating may encourage them to control their snacking habits.

Researchers initially took 41 male students, and asked them to drink tea from cups with both red and blue labels. The participants drank 44 percent less from those with red labels.

Part two of the study involved 109 people, who were instucted to eat pretzels laid out on either a red, blue or white plate. Again, participants who were given the red plates reportedly consumed less.

The findings of the study indicate that the use of red cups in pubs and bars could also help limit patrons' alcohol consumption, while red packaging could also be used as a deterrent for purchasing unhealthy foods in supermarkets.

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