Majority
of meals at restaurants tip the calorie scale
From: Tufts
University via EurekAlert!
Meals consumed at fast-food restaurants are often seen as one of
the biggest contributors to the obesity epidemic.
But according to a new study
in the Journal of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,
92 percent of 364 measured restaurant meals from both large-chain and non-chain
(local) restaurants exceeded recommended calorie requirements for a single
meal.
In 123 restaurants in three cities across America, the research team
found that a single meal serving, without beverages, appetizers, or desserts
sometimes exceeded the caloric requirements for an entire day.
"These findings make it clear that making healthy choices while eating out is difficult because the combination of tempting options and excessive portions often overwhelm our self-control," said senior author Susan B. Roberts, Ph.D., director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University in Boston.
"Although fast-food restaurants are often the easiest targets
for criticism because they provide information on their portion sizes and
calories, small restaurants typically provide just as many calories, and
sometimes more. Favorite meals often contain three or even four times the
amount of calories a person needs, and although in theory we don't have to eat
the whole lot in practice most of us don't have enough willpower to stop eating
when we have had enough," Roberts continued.
The study was conducted by researchers at the HNRCA and the
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and
colleagues, who analyzed the calorie content of frequently ordered meals in
both local restaurants and their large-chain equivalents in three separate
locations: Boston, San Francisco and Little Rock, Ark.
The data were collected
between 2011 and 2014 by comparing the meals against human calorie requirements
and USDA food database values. The cuisine studied by researchers included
American, Chinese, Greek, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Thai and
Vietnamese fare.
The study also found that American, Chinese and Italian had the
highest calorie counts with a mean of 1,495 calories per meal.
"Oversize servings lead a lot of dieters to avoid most
restaurants entirely, or stick to items like salads that they know are served
in reasonable portions," said co-author William Masters, Ph.D., professor
of food economics at the Friedman School.
"Standard meals are sized for
the hungriest customers, so most people need superhuman self-control to avoid
overeating. There is a gender dimension here that is really important: women
typically have a lower caloric requirement than men, so on average need to eat
less. Women, while dining out, typically have to be more vigilant."
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