Spock was merely attempting to conduct a study on sodium/calorie levels between standard and newly revised replicator portion cheetos, to see if the latter could be a healthier type that would be substituted for Kirk’s habituary snack. The study was conducted in concordance with Dr. McCoy, who initially had proposed a new solution to cut back Kirk’s caloric intake, after several very unsuccessful attempts of getting him to stick to his salad diet. Spock devised a new type of cheeto, composed of significantly less fat and salt content than the standard issue ones, but ultimately, it did not work out.
The following visual presentation demonstrates the results of the effects the new cheetos had on their subject:
