The Science behind Snacking

Healthcare professionals routinely support patients and clients to change their eating habits, but lasting behaviour change is rarely as simple as knowing what to eat. Sweet snacking can be shaped by habit, hunger, reward, convenience, social situations and the wider food environment, so understanding what is happening in those real life moments is key to supporting meaningful change.

Emerging evidence across behaviour change, sweet taste science and gut signalling is helping us better understand why snacking habits persist and what may help people respond differently. Research suggests that reducing exposure to sweetness does not necessarily change how sweet foods taste or how much people want them, while behaviour change studies point to a range of strategies that may help disrupt established patterns.

The webinar will also explore the role of fibre rich whole foods within this wider behaviour change picture. Drawing on evidence around fibre, satiety, appetite and gut brain signalling, it will consider how what someone eats may influence not only the immediate food choice, but also hunger, fullness and the desire to snack again.

Bringing these strands together, the session will explore five common situations associated with sweet snacking: reward, social occasions, convenience, automaticity and hunger. It will consider how these behaviours are shaped by both individual drivers and the wider food environment, and how healthcare professionals can support people in those moments with practical, person centred behaviour change strategies.