New research reveals that teens may be consuming way more calories than some of adults, according to CBS News.
The new study, which was published in BMJ on Thursday, showed that teenagers underestimate the amount of calories in their meals by about 34 percent.
However, teens are not alone in doing so. The study also found that parents of school-age children underestimated their caloric fast food intake by about 23 percent, with other adults following behind at 20 percent.
"We found that people, especially teens, are consuming more calories than they think they're getting when they eat fast food," lead researcher Dr. Jason Block, of the Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, said in a press release. "1,877 adults, 1,178 adolescents (aged 11 through 20) and 330 school-aged children (3 to 15) were surveyed at 89 fast-food restaurants in four cities in the New England area."
In total, and researchers found a quarter of participants underestimated the caloric value in their meals by at least 500 calories. On average, adults ordered an 836-calorie meal, thinking they were eating something that contained 175 calories fewer. Teens ate less calories on average, buying approximately 756 calorie meals, but they underestimated the value of their food by 259 calories on average.
Different results were also yielded at different food chains. People who at Subway, for instance, were more likely to underestimate their calories than those who ate at restaurants like McDonald's, KFC and Dunkin' Donuts, where less healthy meals were expected. According to Block, Subway's marketing has given it a misconception of being a more healthy restaurant.
"These findings tell us that many people who eat at fast-food restaurants may not be making informed choices because they don't know how many calories they're consuming," Block said. "Having the information is an important first step for anyone wanting to make changes."
In another study published on Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers found that kids who ate fast food at least twice a week were 50 percent less likely "to use caloric and nutritional information than children who ate at these establishments less frequently."
About 721 youth between ages 9 and 18 were surveyed on their eating habits, and excluded kids who never ate fast food, about 8 percent of the group, and about 20 percent of the group who didn't realize there was caloric information available to them.
It was found that girls were 80 percent more likely to use caloric information than boys, and obese children were 70 percent more likely to report using calorie information guides than their peers.
"Our findings are important given the high prevalence of obesity among youth and the adverse health effects associated with obesity," lead author Dr. Holly Wethington, a researcher with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, said in a press release. "It is encouraging that a large number of youth, particularly youth who are obese, reported using the calorie information.
"This may have potential to lead to improved food and beverage choices as a way to manage weight, although more research is needed to assess whether youth know how many calories they should consume in a day given their activity level," she said. "Public health practitioners, school nutrition services, retailers, and other interested groups can consider implementing complementary education programs to improve youth's understanding of calorie information to hopefully make calorie labeling part of a successful weight management strategy."
