How Many Calories You’re Really Ingesting When You Eat Fast Food
When you’re trying to eat healthy, fast food is typically off the menu. We know it’s not great for our health, but that doesn’t stop close to 40% of Americans…
CHICAGO – SEPTEMBER 30: French fries wait to be ordered at a fast-food restaurant September 30, 2002 in Chicago, Illinois. Scientists have made progress in understanding the chemical reaction that may cause fries, potato chips and other fried or starchy foods to build up high levels of acrylamide, a suspected carcinogen found in a host of everyday foods. The culprit is believed to be asparagines, a naturally occurring amino acid that can lead to the formation of the potential carcinogen when subjected to high temperatures. Swedish scientists in the spring announced that high levels of acrylamide can be found in many high-carbohydrate foods that are fried or baked at high temperature. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has made assessing acrylamide?s risk and determining how to lower its levels in food a priority.
(Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)When you’re trying to eat healthy, fast food is typically off the menu. We know it’s not great for our health, but that doesn’t stop close to 40% of Americans from eating it on any given day. While it can be cheap and convenient to hit up your favorite drive-thru, it turns out, most people are clueless when it comes to how many calories they’re consuming in those meals.
According to 24/7 Wall St and a new study on the perceptions versus the reality of chain restaurant food surveyed 977 Americans to see how close they could get to the calorie counts in various fast food items.
- For French fries, 60% underestimated the calories at 449, when the actual calories are 550.
- Respondents guessed low for chicken salad as well, estimating it to have 374 calories, but it actually has 430.
- People were almost spot on with milkshakes, estimating the calories to be 570 rather than the actual 580.
- Most respondents thought fried chicken had more calories than it really does, their estimates average to 446, the real number is 330.
- Cheesecake was the highest-calorie item included in the study, as well as the item most underestimated. While 87% of Amreicans guessed the dessert to have 421 calories, it actually has around 720.
- Despite the fact that the FDA started requiring restaurants to post the calories of menu items in 2018, most folks don’t want to think about that, with 71% admitting they choose to ignore that calorie information.
Source: 24/7 Wall St
