TLN Health News Heads Up: Healthy claims get diners to eat more

When people think they're saving calories, they splurge elsewhere
(from MSNBC.com)

People who opt for a meal at a ”healthy” restaurant often consume more calories than they would dining at fast food joints that make no health claims, a new study shows.

The researchers found that individuals underestimate the calorie content of foods served at restaurants they see as healthier, to a degree that could easily lead to weight gain.

For example, “People think that the same 1,000-calorie meal has 159 fewer calories if it comes from Subway than if it comes from McDonalds,” Dr. Pierre Chandon, at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, told Reuters Health. “If they choose to consume this fictitious ’calorie credit’ on other food, and it they eat at Subway twice a week, they could gain an extra 4.9 pounds a year.”

While restaurants presenting themselves as healthy have grown at a much faster rate over the past five years than traditional fast food restaurants, Americans’ waistlines have not been shrinking; in fact, the nation’s population is fatter than ever, note Chandon and his colleague Dr. Brian Wansink of Cornell University in Ithaca in their report in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Read this eye-opening article in its entirety at MSNBC.com!