Human Limits

Today’s post is short and in preparation for the fact that many of us eat out more during summer vacation and when we are on the road doing all sorts of different things.   The chart below is from a study of more than 3000 people in the New England area eating at national fast food chains.   The key finding is that people in every age group under estimate how many calories they are eating when that grab a meal at a fast food outlet.

There is also recent evidence that better labeling reduces the number of calories purchased at fast food restaurants by women and not men.   Finally, we tend to eat more when we eat out and the consumption of either pre-prepared food or eating out more are factors contributing to the obesity epidemic.   The implications of this data are pretty obvious and start with clear labeling of the food we buy in whatever venue and then paying attention to the labels.  Especially for men!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 30th, 2013 at 5:10 am and is filed under Current Events, Research and Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.