March 19/Baltimore/Science World Report-- According to a study published in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition, if a person recalls the last meal as being filling and satisfying, they are more likely to consume less food in their next meals. They also claim that distracted eaters are more likely to take in extra calories due to overeating in their immediate meal.

A person could be distracted while listening to music, watching TV or while reading newspapers at the dinner table.

On analyzing 24 separate studies that examined the impact of awareness, attention, memory and distraction on how much food a consumer eats, the researchers noticed that writing down the previous meal consumed, with the help of visual reminders of the previous meal, can help the person consume less food. This new method can aid in weight-loss programs.

Other techniques that led to reduction in meal size apart from noting down previous meals includes keeping visual reminders of the previous meal and keeping food wrappers.

"However, whilst techniques which remind you of what you have eaten reduce food consumption, some practical strategies to put these findings into practice need to be further developed. Also, the studies we analysed looked at adults with healthy body mass index so additional work is needed to find out how this might affect people who are overweight," Dr. Eric Robinson, from the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, said in a press statement.