Supersizing -- trend for a millennium

Researchers and brothers Craig and Brian Wansink examined 52 of the most famous images of the Last Supper - where Jesus and his disciples observed a Passover seder, and found a sizable increase in portions from the year 1000 to 10 years ago, reports Associated Press.

According to their findings, the main course size of the Last Supper increased by 69 percent, plate size by 66 percent, and bread loaves by 23 percent. It's notable the supersizing started about 500 years ago - at about the time Leonardo Da Vinci finished painting his masterpiece, The Last Supper.
 
"I think people assume that increased serving sizes, or 'portion distortion,' is a recent phenomenon," Brian, author of Mindless Eating: Why we Eat More than We Think, told the Los Angeles Times. "But this research indicates it's a general trend for at least the last millennium."
 
Wansink believes portion sizes in art may reflect the artists' better diets and increasing affordablilty of food.