You Are What You Eat: A Randomised Controlled Trial of an Appearance-based Dietary Intervention

"Selected pages from the British National Health Service (NHS) information booklets \[5 A Day, Just Eat More (fruit \& veg); pages i, ii, 12-15, 20 \& 21\] and \[5 A Day, Just Eat More (fruit \& veg): What's it all about?; pages i-ii)\] were provided to all participants on completion of baseline questionnaires. The pages provided information on recommended portion sizes, meal planning, health benefits and answered frequently asked diet-related questions"

"Participants in the generic appearance intervention group received images to illustrate the impact of fruit and vegetable consumption on skin appearance. Participants in this group were presented with gender congruent stimuli, constructed by averaging the facial shape and colour of four male/female faces.~Participants viewed the gender-congruent set of the resulting stimuli in two forms. Firstly, after completion of baseline questionnaires, images were displayed on a computer monitor. Participants were instructed to select what they perceived as the healthiest face colour, which was recorded by the computer program over two trials.~Participants in this group also received a take-home photo quality leaflet to further illustrate the effect of fruit and vegetable consumption on skin colour."

Participants in this group received stimuli manipulated in identical ways to that received by the generic appearance-intervention group, except the illustrations were performed upon images of the participant's own face.