Barbara Rolls
PROFESSOR of Nutritiional and Behavioral Health, Nutritional Sciences | Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA, UNITED STATES
Barbara Rolls is a professor of biobehavioral health, the Intercollege Graduate Program in Physiology
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Industry Expertise (4)
Research
Health and Wellness
Education/Learning
Food and Beverages
Areas of Expertise (2)
Psychological and environmental controls of food intake and food selection in normal weight and obese humans
dietary strategies for weight management
Biography
Barbara Rolls is a professor of biobehavioral health, the Intercollege Graduate Program in Physiology, and the Integrative Biosciences Graduate Program. She is also the Helen A. Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences. She is a recognized expert in eating behavior and the developer of the Volumetrics diet.
Education (3)
University of Cambridge: Ph.D., Physiology 1970
University of Oxford: M.A. 1970
University of Pennsylvania: B.A., Biology 1966
Links (3)
Media Appearances (3)
Nutritional sciences faculty member establishes new endowment
Penn State News online
2017-09-01
Celebrating 25 years as a Penn State faculty member in the College of Health and Human Development on Sept. 1, Barbara Rolls, professor and Helen A. Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences, marked the occasion by establishing a new endowment to benefit graduate students.
Weight loss can be tied to when, not just what, you eat
CNN online
2017-05-19
If you are trying to lose weight and otherwise improve your health, you may already be mindful about what you eat during the day. You might skip breakfast. At lunch, you may opt for a salad with lots of veggies, no croutons and low-fat dressing -- on the side, of course.
Volumetrics ranks No. 2 for weight loss
Penn State News online
2017-01-05
The Volumetrics diet — created by Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional sciences and Helen A. Guthrie Chair in Nutrition at Penn State – ranks as a No. 2 weight loss plan in U.S. News & World Report's Best Diets of 2017.
Articles (5)
Does the incorporation of portion-control strategies in a behavioral program improve weight loss in a one-year randomized controlled trial?
International Journal of Obesity
Barbara J. Rolls, Liane S. Roe, Brittany L. James, and Christine E. Sanchez
2016 Controlling food portion sizes can help reduce energy intake, but the effect of different portion-control methods on weight management is not known. In a one-year randomized trial, we tested whether the efficacy of a behavioral weight-loss program was improved by incorporating either of two portion-control strategies instead of standard advice about eating less.
Double trouble: Portion size and energy density combine to increase preschool children's lunch intake
Physiology & Behavior
Samantha M.R. Kling, Liane S. Roe, Kathleen L. Keller, Barbara J. Rolls
2016 Both portion size and energy density (ED) have substantial effects on intake; however, their combined effects on preschool children's intake have not been examined when multiple foods are varied at a meal.
NIH working group report: Innovative research to improve maintenance of weight loss
Obesity
Paul S. MacLean, Rena R. Wing, Terry Davidson, Leonard Epstein, Bret Goodpaster, Kevin D. Hall, Barry E. Levin, Michael G. Perri, Barbara J. Rolls, Michael Rosenbaum, Alexander J. Rothman, Donna Ryan
2014 The National Institutes of Health, led by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, organized a working group of experts to discuss the problem of weight regain after weight loss. A number of experts in integrative physiology and behavioral psychology were convened with the goal of merging their perspectives regarding the barriers to scientific progress and the development of novel ways to improve long-term outcomes in obesity therapeutics. The specific objectives of this working group were to: (1) identify the challenges that make maintaining a reduced weight so difficult; (2) review strategies that have been used to improve success in previous studies; and (3) recommend novel solutions that could be examined in future studies of long-term weight control.
Weighing the Evidence of Common Beliefs in Obesity Research
Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
Krista Casazza, Andrew Brown, Arne Astrup, Fredrik Bertz, Charles Baum, Michelle Bohan Brown, John Dawson, Nefertiti Durant, Gareth Dutton, David A. Fields, Kevin R. Fontaine, Steven Heymsfield, David Levitsky, Tapan Mehta, Nir Menachemi, P.K. Newby, Russell Pate, Hollie Raynor, Barbara J. Rolls, Bisakha Sen, Daniel L. Smith JR., Diana Thomas, Brian Wansink & David B. Allison
2014 Obesity is a topic on which many views are strongly held in the absence of scientific evidence to support those views, and some views are strongly held despite evidence to contradict those views. We refer to the former as “presumptions” and the latter as “myths.” Here, we present nine myths and 10 presumptions surrounding the effects of rapid weight loss; setting realistic goals in weight loss therapy; stage of change or readiness to lose weight; physical education classes; breastfeeding; daily self-weighing; genetic contribution to obesity; the “Freshman 15”; food deserts; regularly eating (versus skipping) breakfast; eating close to bedtime; eating more fruits and vegetables; weight cycling (i.e., yo-yo dieting); snacking; built environment; reducing screen time in childhood obesity; portion size; participation in family mealtime; and drinking water as a means of weight loss. For each of these, we describe the belief and present evidence that the belief is widely held or stated, reasons to support the conjecture that the belief might be true, evidence to directly support or refute the belief, and findings from randomized controlled trials, if available. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these determinations, conjecture on why so many myths and presumptions exist, and suggestions for limiting the spread of these and other unsubstantiated beliefs about the obesity domain.
Myths, Presumptions, and Facts about Obesity
The New England Journal of Medicine
Krista Casazza, Ph.D., R.D., Kevin R. Fontaine, Ph.D., Arne Astrup, M.D., Ph.D., Leann L. Birch, Ph.D., Andrew W. Brown, Ph.D., Michelle M. Bohan Brown, Ph.D., Nefertiti Durant, M.D., M.P.H., Gareth Dutton, Ph.D., E. Michael Foster, Ph.D., Steven B. Heymsfield, M.D., Kerry McIver, M.S., Tapan Mehta, M.S., Nir Menachemi, Ph.D., P.K. Newby, Sc.D., M.P.H., Russell Pate, Ph.D., Barbara J. Rolls, Ph.D., Bisakha Sen, Ph.D., Daniel L. Smith, Jr., Ph.D., Diana M. Thomas, Ph.D., and David B. Allison, Ph.D.
2013 Passionate interests, the human tendency to seek explanations for observed phenomena, and everyday experience appear to contribute to strong convictions about obesity, despite the absence of supporting data. When the public, mass media, government agencies, and even academic scientists espouse unsupported beliefs, the result may be ineffective policy, unhelpful or unsafe clinical and public health recommendations, and an unproductive allocation of resources. In this article, we review some common beliefs about obesity that are not supported by scientific evidence and also provide some useful evidence-based concepts. We define myths as beliefs held to be true despite substantial refuting evidence, presumptions as beliefs held to be true for which convincing evidence does not yet confirm or disprove their truth, and facts as propositions backed by sufficient evidence to consider them empirically proved for practical purposes.