Then they rated their feelings of hunger every 15 minutes, and over the next two hours, students could go to a buffet table and eat as much as the liked, all under the close observation of the researchers. Using white bread as the baseline of 100, they scored 38 different foods given to the students. In other words, foods scoring higher than 100 are more satisfying than white bread and those under 100 are less satisfying. As a group, fruits ranked at the top with a satiety index 1.7 times that of white bread. The Satiety Index Each of the following foods is rated by how much food people ate after consuming them to satisfy their hunger.
Potatoes rank highest, seven times higher than the least-filling food, croissants.
Cakes, donuts, and cookies are among the least filling. Oranges and apples outscore bananas. Fish is more satisfying, per calorie, than lean beef or chicken. Popcorn is twice as filling as a candy bar or peanuts. Holt's Food Satiety Index is the first of its kind demonstrating that foods with a high-fat content create almost instant cravings for more of the same.