100-calorie packs get a thumbs up!

One hundred calorie snack packs are popular these days, with consumers using them as a handy way to curb excessive snacking between meals. But do they actually help you eat less?

New research says the answer is yes and "training" the appetite with small snacks may even help us resist temptation when we are confronted with a big bag of munchies.

The Nabisco Corporation, among other companies, has started marketing 100-calorie versions of some of its most popular snacks, including Ritz crackers, Chips Ahoy Cookies and even Oreos.

And according to new research presented this week at the Obesity Society Meeting in Phoenix, placing snacks in smaller bags really does help psychologically.

Researchers tested 59 people, offering them either big bags of their favorite chips, cookies and pretzels or the same snacks in 100-calorie packs.

After one week, participants switched. Those who had been eating out of big bags received the 100-calorie packs and vice versa.

Results showed that people consumed 120 fewer calories a day when they were eating from 100-calorie packs than when they were given the regular packages.

And those who started with the snack packs kept their smaller appetites when they were given a chance to eat from the big bags, consuming about 850 fewer calories per week.