Calorie Counts Found Inaccurate

Soups and salads are often more fattening than listed, according to researchers.

July 21, 2011

BOSTON - According to a new Tufts University study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, posted calorie counts at chain restaurants are often inaccurate when it comes to lower-calorie items like soups and salads, the Boston Globe reports.

The study assessed items from 42 national QSRs and sit-down restaurant chains and found that nearly 20-percent of samples, when measured in a laboratory, exceeded the posted calorie count by at least 100 calories.

The researchers also noted that restaurants tend to overstate the calorie counts in higher-calorie foods such as pizza, meats and side dishes.

The study, conducted by scientists at the Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, said the variability among the samples is troubling, in light of a growing obesity epidemic.

"This turns dieting on its head,???? said Susan Roberts, the study??s lead author, "Especially if you go to a restaurant and think you??re being good by ordering a soup or salad.????

Roberts said that consuming an extra 100 calories each day would lead to a weight gain, on average, of 10 pounds a year.

Roberts?? team selected 269 items from 42 restaurants in three states ?" Massachusetts, Arkansas, and Indiana ?" between January and June 2010.

National Restaurant Association spokesperson Joy Dubost said that restaurants will be working harder to ensure the counts are more accurate, but that the association was pleased that the great majority of items were accurately listed.

"We have to keep in mind that restaurant food is hand-prepared and it invariably contains variation,???? Dubost said. "But with the new menu-labeling law we know that many restaurant chains are looking to tighten up kitchen quality-control standards.????

The researchers found the greatest labeling variance among items purchased from sit-down restaurants rather than QSRs.

"Fast-food restaurants are always considered the bad guys, but, in this case, they were the good guys, if you want a reliable calorie count, because there is more control in the factory???? where the food is prepared, Roberts said.

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