Apples for Health- Campaigns urging exercise may spur eating

Campaigns urging exercise may spur eating

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- University of Illinois researchers suggest weight-loss campaigns that promote exercise may result in people eating more.

Study leader Dolores Albarracin said people who viewed posters suggesting that they "join a gym" or "take a walk" ate more food after looking at the posters than people who saw similarly designed posters prompting them to "make friends" or "be in a group," the researchers found. Subliminal words about activity had a similar effect on study participants, Albarracin said in a statement.

"Viewers of the exercise messages ate significantly more than their peers, who viewed other types of messages," Albarracin said in a statement

"They ate one-third more when exposed to the exercise ads. Those exposed to subliminal words about activity during a computer task ate about 20 percent more than those exposed to neutral words.

The study, published in the journal Obesity, builds on previous research by Albarracín that suggests that general messages to be active can prompt people to behave in a variety of ways, some of which may have negative consequences.