Study: Fast-food diners dramatically underestimate calorie counts
If you tend to guesstimate how many calories are in the fast-food meals you’re eating, chances are your eyes are mini-sizing your meal and you’re coming in low, according to new research.
Diners — especially teenagers — at fast-food spots in New England significantly underestimate the calories in their meals, according to a new study published May 23 in BMJ, a journal of the British Medical Association.
Teens underestimated the most, believing that their fast-food meals contained 34 percent fewer calories than they actually did, according to lead researcher Jason Block, of the Harvard Medical School. Parents of school-age children low-balled their calorie counts by as much as 23 percent and other adults came in about 20 percent too low.
For the study, the researchers surveyed nearly 3,400 adults, teens and children in 2010 and 2011 at 89 fast-food restaurants in four New England cities. At the time, calorie counts weren’t openly on display. One quarter of all the respondents underestimated the calorie content of their meals by a whopping 500 calories or more.
“These findings tell us that many people who eat at fast-food restaurants may not be making informed choices because they don’t know how many calories they’re consuming,” said Block in a news release. “Having the information is an important first step for anyone wanting to make changes.”
The study, “Consumers’ Estimation of Calorie Content at Fast Food Restaurants” is the first large-scale effort to discern the differences between perceived and actual calorie count at fast-food restaurants.
The newly released study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through its Healthy Eating Research Program. Other research released earlier this month — and also funded by the program — showed that adults and teenagers who used calorie information posted on menus or menu boards in the Seattle-area purchased meals with up to 143 fewer calories compared to other customers who didn’t view the nutrition information.
Here are a few ways to eat healthier at the drive-thru:
- Look up the nutrition information online before you go through the drive-thru. Consider keeping some print-outs in a compartment in your car for future reference.
- Check out our guide on healthy choices you can make at the drive-through
- Keep a food journal. We tend to eat less when we’re logging our meals and calories in a journal.
Cooking at home can make it easier to stay on track with your diet as you can easily track nutrition information. Build up your kitchen gadget collection with coupons and cash-back offers at KMart, Sears, Bed, Bath and Beyond and Katom.
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