As time goes on, America’s waistline continues to expand. In the age of fast-moving technology, people are moving slower and less often, with far too many becoming couch potatoes munching their way into obesity. Let’s face it. People are eating more, as well as eating more often, and now there’s a study to back it up. The details of the analysis appear in the June issue of the journal PLoS Medicine.
Barry Popkin, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with his co-author, have found that it’s the number of snacks and meals that people are eating—not simply portion size of foods consumed each day—that are serving to boost caloric intake to just under 2,400 calories daily. How much is eaten, and how often, contributes to the continuous increase in the American waistline.
The study found that over the past three decades, Americans have increased from partaking of 3.8 snacks and meals daily to an average of 4.9, accounting for an dramatic rise of 29 percent.
In addition, the average portion size has increased by around 12 percent, while in contrast, energy density, which is average number of calories per 1-gram serving of food, has actually declined over the 30-year period, meaning that foods rich in calories have had little to do with the obesity epidemic.
Popkin noted, “The real reason we seem to be eating more is we’re eating often.” He then added, “The frequency of eating is probably, for the average overweight adult, becoming a huge issue.”
Popkin pointed out that a much of the culpability for endless munching can be placed on food advertising as well as other marketing. He says, “It’s all about making people think they want to have something in their hands all the time. It’s there, it’s available all the time, it’s tasty. It’s not very healthy, but it’s tasty. It’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s fatty—it’s all the things we love.”
To arrive at their conclusions, Popkin and his colleague examined data gathered from four nationally representative food surveys conducted between 1977 and 2006 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results coincided with those of a prior study conducted by Popkin and his co-author, which revealed that the time interval between meals and snacks has significantly declined since 1977, in conjunction with a substantial increase in the number of calories consumed.
Popkin noted, “It used to be you’d have three meals a day. And if you snacked, it was unsweetened tea or coffee. Nowadays, everywhere you turn there’s food. If you’re driving, you have a big bag of Doritos next to you while you drive.” Moreover, he pointed out that sugary drinks such as soda, flavored and sweetened coffees, and fruit juices are also major culprits, with several hundred extra calories coming just from drinks.
Although the study findings appear to be in balance with America’s apparent dietary imbalance, the research does have a few shortcomings. The surveys from which the data came did not track the same individuals over time, and there were also variances among questions and methods used. In addition, participants self-reported their food intake for the prior 24 hours, which may have had an effect on accuracy.
According to a 2010 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 25 percent of American adults are obese. As a preventive measure for becoming a part of these alarming statistics (or to remove yourself from them), stand pat with three meals daily, remembering to keep your portions in check. In addition, enjoy some healthy snacks, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, and avoid processed foods.
