Try this for size: eat no seconds!

USING smaller plates won’t help us lose weight – because we’ll simply go back for second helpings, say researchers.

Experts say the technique makes portion sizes look more substantial, helping us cut servings and lose 665 kilojoules a day.

But a British academic says there is little evidence that it will help dieters, after finding those with smaller popcorn bowls actually ate more.

Dr Eric Robinson, a behavioural psychologist at the University of Liverpool, said: “If you are using a smaller plate you may initially serve yourself a little less but then go back for second helpings – you do have a small plate after all.”

Writing on website The Conversation, he added: “The idea that simply giving people smaller plates to eat from will magically reduce how much they eat is an idea that may never die. But it should do.”

It thought that Britons are fatter now than in the 1950s because the average dinner plate size has risen from 20cm to 30.5cm.

A review by Cambridge academics in 2015 found that downsizing dishware could slash the number of kilojoules consumed by almost a tenth.

But in Robinson’s study, which gave 61 people bowls of popcorn as they watched television, those with a smaller dish ate around a third more. He concluded: “Public health recommendations advising the use of smaller dishware to reduce food consumption are premature, as this strategy may not be effective.”

Robinson said it was up to food and drink manufacturers to help tackle the nation’s expanding waistlines.

He added: “There is now accumulating evidence that if the food industry made substantial reductions to the number of calories in popular food and drink products then we would be eating less as a nation.

“Making this kind of change happen will of course be more difficult than simply telling the general public to eat from miniature plates, but if we are to tackle obesity effectively then it is a change that must happen.“His study follows the discovery by Channel 4 programme Food Unwrapped that those using smaller plates ate twice as much pasta as those with larger ones.

A Korean study last year gave 37 women different sized dishes during a buffet lunch and found those with the smallest consumed the same amount of food.

A separate review led by the University of Liverpool, and examining nine studies, has found no significant difference in food intake when participants ate from smaller or larger dishware. The 2015 review by Cambridge researchers found that it was common to use plate size as an “anchor”to deter mine the appropriate amount to eat.