A waitress's weight and the color contrasts between plates and food were just a few of the everyday external cues that can affect how much people eat, "consumer campers" learned at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab's annual Consumer Camp April 17-18.

About 80 dietitians, teachers, nutritionists, interested consumers and obesity researchers went through a battery of study demonstrations from the moment they registered. The campers also heard from student researchers and lab assistants about some of the 20 consumer behavior studies that the lab conducts each year with thousands of volunteers.

"Our mission in the lab is to observe eating behavior as it occurs in the real world and come up with ways for people to avoid these food traps," said Brian Wansink, the lab's director and the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing in the Department of Applied Economics and Management, and author of "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think." "Everyone is affected by powerful environmental factors that can trigger overeating without even being aware. Consumer Camp is about sharing the results of our studies and helping people get rid of these cues that cause you to eat poorly."

In one demonstration, researchers secretly monitored participants as they served themselves at buffets staffed by a skinny server and one outfitted in a fat suit. (The padded waitress appeared to cause people to limit their intake.) During another, Wansink lectured while groups of campers mindlessly munched on shelled and unshelled pistachios to see who ate more. (Unimpeded, the unshelled crowd consumed about one-third more calories.) At the close of camp, Wansink explained the studies and what they reveal about our eating habits.

"People don't understand all the drivers that mess up our understanding of how much we eat," Wansink said.

Wansink started Consumer Camp in 1997 while a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania as a way to share his food psychology research. Now in its eighth year, last week's event attracted a doctoral student from London, a Canadian playwright, a teacher from Syracuse, a philosophy professor from Massachusetts and dozens of nutritionists and dietitians.

"I picked up lots of practical tips that I can take back to the patients I work with," said Robin Brannon, an oncology dietitian at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Maryland who helps cancer survivors manage their weight. "There are many small environmental changes one can make, like putting out fruit bowls in your home or keeping the junk food out of sight, that can make a big difference."

A few of the campers also took part in a special training session led by Ron Guymon, director of corporate engagements for the Food and Brand Lab, on April 19 to begin certification in some of the mindless eating prevention techniques offered by the lab.

Ted Boscia is a staff writer in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.