Fattier Than You Think

As part of my lit review work today, I came across a reference to this 1997 report from the Center for Science and the Public Interest that has some interesting information about health claims on restaurant menus.

For me, this was the stand-out fact:

"Keep in mind that restaurant foods are probably fattier than you think: The nutrient content of restaurant meals is extremely difficult to assess. A survey conducted by CSPI and researchers at New York University found that trained dietitians underestimated the calorie content of five restaurant meals by an average of 37%. They underestimated fat content by 49%.

For example, the dietitians estimated, on average, that a tuna fish sandwich provided 374 calories and 18 grams of fat, while the sandwich actually contained about 720 calories and 43 grams of fat!

If well-educated nutrition professionals consistently and substantially underestimated the calorie and fat content of restaurant meals, it's clear that ordinary consumers also have trouble guessing what's in their meals."

Yikes. Of course, I guess this means I can feel a little bit less stupid (or at least, in better company) for having underestimated the extreme calorie content of that piece of chocolate cake.