June 30, 2011 | 1 minute read

This week’s issue of Cancer Research Update (CRU) highlights a relatively small but intriguing study looking at how the form of a food can influence how much we eat.

The study focused on pistachio nuts, offering people either the shelled or non-shelled form. For a variety of possible reasons, participants ate about 40 percent fewer calories when presented with the pistachios in its shell. Both sets of groups consumed about three-quarters of the calories presented. But the group that ate fewer calories – the in-shell pistachio group — reported about the same fullness and satisfaction ratings as those who ate the shelled nuts.

The study adds the research on how visual cues and mindful eating may play a role in what we eat, and even our satiety.

This week’s CRU also profiles a scientist whose work may change what childhood cancer patients eat and the new report on cancer rates. You can read the whole issue here.