Brits Have No Clue on Calories in Foods
Brits are getting fatter because they have no clue how many calories there are in their favourite foods
The following report is from an article in The Mirror in November 2017, and we thought it would be useful for our members
Brits are piling on the pounds because they have no idea how many calories their favourite snacks contain, a survey has found.
Popcorn is one of the biggest culprits with a large portion of sweet popcorn containing up to 965 calories when Brits think it is only has 270.
A supermarket pepperoni pizza on average contains 1,100 calories but Brits guessed it was 355. And a large portion of fries is likely to contain as many as 445 calories but Brits thought it was just 270. A double stacked burger has around 500 calories but most people guessed it was 380.
The average adult thought a typical 50g portion of prawn crackers contained just 150 calories, when in fact it is nearer to 285.
They also thought 110g bowl of granola contained 145 calories when it is about 450.
The study by cheese snack maker The Laughing Cow asked 2,000 UK adults about what snacks they eat and how many calories they contained. Researchers discovered the average Brit tries to consume 1,920 calories a day, but due to the number of snacks consumed throughout the day, the true intake is around 2,635.
It found that 17 percent of adults exceed their calorie allowance daily with the average adult in the UK checking the calorie content on packaging just four times a week.
Over a third of the people asked weren’t sure what a calorie is, with two thirds saying they often completely lose track of the number of calories they consume each day.
Alexandra Labaisse, Brand Manager at The Laughing Cow said: “Too often we are reaching for snacks that, when we think about it properly, we don’t want.
“Whether it is a soggy sandwich left over after a meeting or a bowl of salty crisps that you devour on auto-pilot in front of the TV, it is clear we will simply graze without much thought.”
Many Brits are also clueless when it comes how many calories men and women need to maintain their weight, with as many as 12 percent thinking men need as many as 3,000 calories to stay the same weight, when actually it is 2,500.
Almost two in ten women (18 percent) had no idea what a typical woman needed to consume to maintain their weight.
A quarter of adults said if they knew how many calories their favourite snacks and treats contained, it would stop them eating them. Six in ten adults said they were amazed when they learned how many calories were in their favourite foods.