Menu Fiction

At a recent nutrition seminar, we spent 2 hours learning the correct way to read food labels.  Our teacher was great on every aspect of food label knowledge; except one….

The calorie amounts per serving are often UNDER estimated.

Say it ain’t so!

Weight management is hard enough.  We rely on the accuracy of food labeling to gage how many calories we consume.  Often, we will go directly to the reduced calorie or “light” meals of commercially prepared foods or chain restaurant menus.  Tufts University chose to study the accuracy of the nutritional information.  The results can be found in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association (January 2010).

Twenty-nine of fast food and sit down chains averaged at least an 18% deficit in the stated calorie amounts.  Some individual foods had egregious discrepancies.  Some had twice the amount of calories.   The study concentrated on the Boston area.  The foods studied were touted as 500 cal/serving, basic American dishes and those with the lowest amount of calorie on the menus.   The study also included supermarket frozen foods chosen because they were comparable to a “take out” meal.


But the news gets worse!  The restaurant menu information only listed the main course.  Five of the restaurants added side dishes at no cost.  These calories were not added to the listed nutritional values!

Hey~ how can these companies get away with this anyway?  The US Food and Drug Administration allow up to 20% more calories than listed.  Manufacturers must not have less than 99% of the stated value.  So, these companies must add food to ensure they are following weight standards and guidelines.

Caveat Emptor

Let the Buyer Beware!