Scanning stated calorie contents before ordering a meal might seem like a good bet in terms of losing weight, but a new study suggests the numbers you see might not be entirely accurate. When researchers analyzed foods from more than 40 chain restaurants, they found that 19 percent had 100 or more calories per serving than was listed — which could have big implications given USDA estimates that nearly half of Americans eat out at least three times per week.
Researchers from Tufts University ordered 269 different food items from both sit-down and fast-food national chain restaurants across Massachusetts, Arkansas and Indiana. For the most part, they found that foods were within 10 or so calories of the information listed, prompting the researchers to write that the stated information was “broadly accurate” in the paper published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
But 19 percent of the foods analyzed were found to have at least 100 calories per serving more than the restaurants stated, and one dish had more 1,000 calories more than was listed. Foods with the lowest listed calorie counts tended to have greater discrepancies.
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Tue, Jul 19, 2011
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