Calorie counts found lacking

Soups, salads often more fattening than listed, Tufts researchers say

July 20, 2011|By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

(PHOTOS BY ESSDRAS M SUAREZ/GLOBE…)

Posted calorie counts in chain restaurants are often inaccurate, and weight-conscious consumers who select soups and salads are especially likely to be served heftier dishes than advertised, according to a new study from Boston researchers.

Their analysis of a wide assortment of items from 42 national fast-food and sit-down restaurant chains found that nearly 1 in 5 samples, when measured in a laboratory, were at least 100 calories over the amounts listed on the restaurants’ websites.

The team also identified many items that contained fewer calories than advertised. Restaurants tended to overstate the amounts in higher-calorie foods such as pizza, meats, and side dishes, but lower-calorie foods, such as soups and salads, were among the most likely to have understated calorie listings, the researchers reported yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

On average, restaurants’ websites were about as likely to understate calories as to overstate them, according to the study by scientists at the Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

But the wide variability among many of the samples is troubling, said the study’s lead author, Susan B. Roberts, director of the energy metabolism laboratory at Tufts, given the growing numbers of consumers who regularly eat out and the legions who are struggling with their weight. More than half of the nation’s adults are overweight or obese.

“This turns dieting on its head,’’ Roberts said, “especially if you go to a restaurant and think you’re being good by ordering a soup or salad.’’

While 100 extra calories lurking in a salad may not seem alarming, a consumer who ate that additional amount each day would pack on, on average, 10 pounds a year, she said.

Roberts said the scientists do not know why lower-calorie foods, especially salads, tended to exceed the posted calories, but said it could be that workers preparing the items may have used more dressings and cheese than intended.

Roberts’s team randomly selected 269 items from 42 restaurants in three states - Massachusetts, Arkansas, and Indiana - between January and June 2010.

The National Restaurant Association, a trade group that represents nearly 1 million restaurant and food service outlets, said it was pleased the study showed that, on average, calorie counts were on target.

But spokeswoman Joy Dubost said that restaurants, particularly sit-down restaurants, will be working harder to ensure that meals prepared by kitchen staff more closely adhere to posted calorie counts.