Food for Thought: Calorie Counts Inaccurate

January 6th, 2010. By Kristine B

So, if you’re anything like me, you probably made one of those oh-so-common New Year’s resolutions. In fact, my bet is many of us out there resolved to ourselves at around midnight on New Year’s Eve that this year, we were going to lose some weight (and every year around this time, I begin to really regret that resolution—oh chocolate, how I miss you). For some people, it’s a couple of pounds, for others, it’s a bit more. But, regardless of how much we had to lose, we all went into January 1, 2010 thinking about dropping some pounds and fitting into a smaller clothing size. 

The next few days are spent making healthy decisions. I’ve had more salads over the past few days than I had in all of December. Those healthy decisions include checking the calorie counts of any foods we buy and choosing lower calorie foods at restaurants (oh French fries, how I miss you). So, I can imagine many of you were shocked, like me, to learn that some foods in grocery stores and restaurants carry inaccurate calorie counts. 

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect that the calories would be correct right down to the decimal. Especially with restaurant foods, there is a bit of give and take—sometimes the chef uses a little more dressing, sometimes a little less. Sometimes the portion is a little bigger, sometimes it’s a tad smaller. 

But, a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association has found that restaurant foods were off by an average of 18 percent and frozen foods were off by an average of eight percent. That’s not even the most shocking part. The same study found that some foods were off by 200 percent! That’s right, I said 200 percent. And, still more shocking, the calorie counts of some entrees did not include the calorie counts of some side dishes, which added a further 240 percent to the entire meal! 

Now, I know some people are thinking that if you go out to a restaurant you have to expect that not everything will be super healthy. But come on. Restaurants are advertising “healthier” choices in an attempt to get those of us who are trying to be conscientious to come on in and spend our money. A 200 percent calorie difference seems a bit outrageous. Even an 18 percent calorie difference, over the course of a year, is too high. 

What gets me are the reports that the FDA is more concerned about overreporting of calories in prepared foods than underreporting (meaning that if a food is advertised to have 100 calories, it had better have at least 100 calories and no fewer or it could face penalties). If the FDA is closely monitoring the net weight of the food, which it is, then is having too few calories really the big issue? Shouldn’t the big issue—what with all the obesity problems and related health problems we face—be when companies advertise fewer calories than they really have? Isn’t that what we should worry about? 

Those extra calories can be the difference between losing weight and not losing weight. And not losing weight when you think you’re being diligent in counting your calories is frustrating at best, unhealthy at worst. 

I know these restaurants do the best they can but in an age where it seems like every day media outlets are screaming about the obesity epidemic, shouldn’t something be done about this problem? I try to take responsibility for what I eat (oh cinnamon buns with icing, how I miss you) and I don’t expect restaurants or prepared food companies to work miracles, but I do expect honesty about what I’m eating. 

The alternative is that I’ll just eat salads at home all the time (oh chocolate cake, how I miss you). 

But then, isn’t that bad for the economy?

Tags: calories, false advertising, frozen food, restaurants

This was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.